IvIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH.    ' 

Received  October,  i8g4. 
^Accessions  No.^^^l^*^.      Class  No. 


% 


II 


SJv.OJvrN^<>\^  ^'VV^4j»r\  ^aN\e.-o  Vv\-z^^  C.t>\ 


The 


Man    of   Business, 


Considered  in  his 


Various     Relations. 


By 

James  W.  Alexander,  D.D., 
John  Todd,  D.D., 
William  B.  Spragiie,  D.D., 
Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D., 
Isaac  Ferris,  D.D., 
Jonathan  F.  Stearns,  D.D. 


New- York  : 
Anson  D.  F.  Randolph,  683  Broadway. 

1857. 


ing  to  Act  of  Congre 
.XSON  D.  r./PvAN 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Cofigress,  in  the  year  1856,  by 

AXSON  D.  r./PvANDOLPH, 

In  the  Clerk's  Ofl&ce  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for 

the  Southern  District  of  New- York. 


John  A.  Gray,  Printer  and  Stereotyper, 
16  &  18  Jacob  St.,  Fire-Proof  Buildings. 


<r 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  following  Essays  have  been  icritten  expressly  for 
this  icorJc.  They  are  intended  to  bear  upon  a  very  im- 
portamt  class  of  the  community — a  class  ichich  in  this 
country  is  constantly  increasing.  The  walks  of  business 
become  more  ramified  and  extended^  as  the  luxuries  of 
cimlization  and  the  skill  of  human  inventions  become 
more  m^ultiplied  and  more  widely  displayed.  Every  de- 
scription of  commercial^  mechanical^  and  executive  busi- 
ness^ excited  and  created  by  the  new  wants  and  new  ima- 
ginations of  advancing  society^  will  call  for  the  creation 
and  extension  of  new  agencies  to  accomplish  the  labors 
ichich  they  must  demand.  Thus  the  variety  and  number 
of  business  agencies  of  every  kind  must  spread  out  in  a 
constant  increase.  Tlie  earnestness  of  competition  and 
the  fertility  of  invention  which  characterize  the  walks  of 
trade  will  also  encroach  more  and  more  upon  the  previous 
comparative  tranquillity  of  professional  life.  And  men 
of  all  descriptions  will^  to  a  great  degree^  be  transformed 
into  business  men.  Their  temptations^  their  principles 
of  action.^  their  rules  of  enterprise^  their  responsibilities^ 
and  their  peculiar  aspects  of  influence.,  will  become^  to  a 
great  degree.,  the  common,  aspects  of  the  community  of 
ichich^  in  earlier  times,  they  have  formed  only  a  part. 


IV  INTKODUCTION. 

Such  a  work  as  the  one  now  prepared  for  the  publisher^ 
who  has  assumed  the  responsibility  of  issuing  this,  will 
be  one  of  general  i^iterest  and  usefulness.  It  will  form 
an  appropriate  guide  for  the  young  man  in  his  start  in 
life.  It  will  be  an  useful  gift  to  a  business  friend  in  any 
period  of  his  life  of  experiment.  It  loill  exercise  an  in- 
fluence for  tJie  benefit  of  men,  only  limited  by  its  own 
adaptation  to  usefdness ;  for  the  field  upon  which  it 
enters  is  boundless,  and  the  persons  for  whom  it  is  calcu- 
lated to  be  a  guide  and  a  friend,  are  innumerable.  TJie 
aalue  of  this  particular  book  must  be  tested  by  the  experi- 
ment of  its  character.  It  is  fully  believed  by  the  pub- 
lisher to  be  in  an  eminent  degree  adapted  to  be  useful. 
He  thinks  that  no  reflecting  person  ca7i  read  the  table  of 
contents,  and  remark  the  subjects  proposed,  and  the  cha- 
racter of  the  gentlemen  who  have  severally  written  upon 
them  at  his  request,  without  a  thorough  conviction  of  the 
value  of  the  work,  and  the  likelihood  of  its  usefulness  to 
those  for  whom  it  is  designed.  It  is,  therefore,  with 
great  confidence  that  he  sends  it  forth,  sincerely  believing 
lie  is  doing  a  public  good  in  the  provisio?i  of  such  a 
toork  for  sale,  which  is  far  beyond  the  value  of  any 
perso7ial  advantage  i?i  the  p>a.rticular  line  of  his  own 
BUSINESS,  or  his  private  profit  in  honorable  trade. 


CONTENTS, 


THE  MERCHANTS  CLERK   CHEERED  AND   COUNSELLED 

James  "W.  Alexander,  D.D. 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS:  THEIR  POSITION,  INFLUENCE,  AND 
DUTIES,  TO  THEMSELVES,  TO  SOCIETY,  AND  ESPE- 
CIALLY TO  THEIR  EMPLOYEES. 

John  Todd,  D.D. 


III. 

MEN  OF  BUSINESS:  THEIR  RESPONSIBILITY  IN  RESPECT 
TO  GOVERNMENTS,  CHURCHES,  AND  BENEVOLENT  IN- 
STITUTIONS. 

"William  B.  Sprague,  D.D. 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS:   THEIR  PERPLEXITIES  AND  TEMPTA- 
TIONS. 

Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D. 


VI  CONTENTS. 

V. 

MEN    OF  BUSINESS:     THEIR   HOME   RESPONSIBILITIES. 

Isaac  Ferris,  D.D. 

VI. 

MEN    OF  BUSINESS:    THEIR   INTELLECTUAL    CULTURE. 

Jonathan  F.  Stearns,  D.D. 


THE  MERCHANT'S  CLERK 


CHEERED  AND  COUNSELLED. 


JAMES  W.  ALF.XANDER,  D.D. 


THE    MERCHAFrS    CLERK 

CHEERED  AND    COUNSELLED, 


Theee  is  no  coming  back  to  correct  the  errors 
of  youtli;  as  PLato  reports  Heraclitus  to  liave 
said  tliat  no  man  ever  bathes  twice  in  the  same 
river :  all  things  are  in  rapid  flow,  and  what  is 
to  be  done  for  character  should  be  done  quickly. 
In  our  hurrying  age  boys  become  men  by  a  sort 
of  start  or  explosive  advance.  Impressions  upon 
society  must,  therefore,  be  made  upon  youth, 
and  if  we  would  have  good  merchants,  we  must 
first  have  good  clerks. 

The  young  men  engaged  in  the  commercial 
houses  of  this  metropolis  are  innumerable ;  the 
numbers  rise  by  tens  of  thousands.  Hence  we 
are  justified  in  giving  a  character  somewhat  local 
to  these  remarks,  believing  that  the  youth  of 
other  cities  are  not  so  diverse  in  nature  or  situa- 
tion as  that  they  may  not  derive  benefit  from 


8  THE   merchant's    CLERK 

advices  calculated  for  tlie  meridian  of  New- York. 
Within  limits  so  narrow,  mucli  can  not  be  said ; 
but  all  that  is  offered  proceeds  from  true  sympa- 
thy and  earnest  good  will. 

Of  the  countless  throng  of  city  clerks,  some 
are  living  under  the  parental  roof,  but  the  great 
majority  have  come  from  the  country.  An  increas- 
ing centripetal  force  bears  the  youth  of  rural  dis- 
tricts towards  the  great  emporium.  While  this 
infusion  of  fresh  blood  into  the  old  veins  is  use- 
ful in  many  ways  to  the  receiving  party,  it  in- 
volves losses  and  exposures  on  the  part  of  those 
who  come.  Each  of  them  has  left  a  beloved 
circle,  which,  alas !  he  has  not  yet  learned  to 
prize,  and  has  entered  into  a  comparatively 
homeless  state.  Many  a  man  of  business  can 
look  back  to  this  juncture,  when  he  sallied  into 
the  great  world  alone ;  and  he  shudders  at  the 
pitfalls  and  precipices  which  he  has  escaped. 
"  Well  do  I  remember,  even  at  this  distance  from 
the  time,"  says  a  celebrated  writer,  "the  scene 
which  my  own  home  presented  when  I  finally 
c[uitted  it  to  embark  on  life's  stormy  and  danger- 
ous ocean.  My  mother,  one  of  the  kindest  and 
tenderest  that  ever  bore  that  dear  relationship, 
unable  to  sustain  the  parting,  had  retired  to  the 
garden;   my  sisters  wept;    my  father   walked 


CHEERED    AND    COUNSELLED.  V) 

silently  by  me  to  the  edge  of  tlie  town,  wliere 
I  was  to  take  horse  and  ride  to  meet  the  coach 
that  was  to  carry  me  to  London ;  while  my  own 
heart  was  almost  overwhelmed  with  emotion, 
under  the  idea  that  I  was  leaving  home  to  en- 
counter the  anxieties,  dangers,  and  resposibilities 
of  a  new  and  untried  course.^ 

There  is  ground  for  these  solicitudes.  This 
coast  is  strewed  with  blackened  hulks  and 
gaping  timbers,  which  went  out  of  port  all  flaunt- 
ing with  pennons.  The  newly-arrived  boy  or 
young  man  plunges  into  trouble  and  danger  the 
hour  he  sets  foot  in  the  city.  All  is  strange  and 
much  is  saddening  ;  but  he  must  choke  down  un- 
manly griefs,  and  he  knows  little  of  his  worst 
enemies.  The  single  circumstance  that  parental 
care  is  henceforth  removed,  or  made  slight  by 
distance,  leaves  him  stripped  of  armor  in  a  bat- 
tle-field. Thank  God,  that  many  a  Joseph  has 
been  led  through  this  defenseless  pilgrimage. 
The  evil  is  greater  because  it  is  unseen.  Yonder 
praying  mother  feels  it  at  her  aching  heart ;  but 


*  "  The  Young  Man  from  Home,"  by  the  Rev.  John  Angell  James  of 
Birmingham,  England.  When  I  name  this  admirable  and  affecting 
little  volume,  I  could  wish  it  were  in  the  hands  of  every  youth  who  is 
separated  from  his  parents.  Mothers  could  hardly  select  a  more  loving 
gift  for  their  absent  sons, 
1* 


10  THE  merchant's  clerk 

the  foolish  boy  is  exulting  in  the  sense  of  inde- 
pendence, and  perhaps  tempted  to  try  some  new 
pleasure  to  show  that  he  is  his  own  master.  False 
confidence  is  the  ruin  of  thousands.  The  tempt- 
ations of  such  a  position,  especially  in  a  city,  are 
formidable.  Most  of  these  derive  their  main 
strength  from  the  presence  of  evil  companions  ; 
to  this  subject,  therefore,  let  us  devote  a  few 
moments. 

Homely  but  golden  is  the  old  saying  of  the 
Spaniard,  "Tell  me  what  is  your  company,  and  I 
will  tell  you  what  you  are."  The  first  company  to 
which  a  young  clerk  really  attaches  himself  often 
fixes  his  career.  This,  however,  he  often  falls  into 
at  random,  or  more  frequently  has  not  decision  of 
character  to  cast  off  when  detected.  Among 
many  things  which  render  bad  company  poison- 
ous, one  of  the  saddest  is  the  extreme  difiiculty 
of  getting  rid  of  an  insidious  villain.  In  the 
position  which  I  occupy,  I  am  constantly  observ- 
ing that  this  or  that  youth  is  held  down  by  the 
weight  of  evil  comrades.  To  shake  them  off  is 
a  Herculean  task  ;  the  ill  attachment  sticks  like 
the  coat  of  Nessus.  Indeed,  solitary  amendment 
is  often  easier  than  disentangling  one's  self  from 
corrupting  alliance.  Has  my  reader  ever  known 
a  young  man  to   remain  virtuous   in   vicious 


CHEEKED    AND    COUNSELLED.  11 

society  ?     Mark  here  tlie  powerful  argument  for 
securing  good  companions. 

Evil  company  is  often  elegant,  deliglitful,  and 
fascinating ;  and  inexperience  can  not  escape  the 
coils  of  the  gilded  serpent.  What  is  greatly  to 
be  deplored  is,  that  associates  of  this  sort  do  not 
wait  to  be  sought  out,  but  make  the  first  ad- 
vances, and  not  unfrequently  lie  in  wait  for  the 
new  arrival.  Unless  the  novice  is  on  his  guard 
against  these  seducers,  he  will  certainly  fall. 
Most  deadly  is  the  poison,  when  evil  companions 
are  under  the  same  roof,  perhaps  at  the  same 
table,  or  even,  by  a  wretched  custom,  in  the 
same  bed.  Better  be  chained  to  yellow  fever 
or  small-pox,  than  joined  to  a  vicious  room-mate. 
It  can  not,  therefore,  be  too  seriously  urged  on 
young  men,  to  beware  what  boarding-houses 
they  select,  as  also  at  what  eating-houses,  and 
with  what  comrades,  they  take  their  meals. 
Nor  should  this  serious  matter  be  left  so  entirely 
as  is  now  the  case  beyond  the  inspection  of  ex- 
perience and  age,  by  the  firms  which  employ 
numerous  unprotected  youth.  Words  are  want- 
ing to  express  the  iniquity  of  those  tradesmen 
and  those  parents  who  deliberately  place  young 
men  amidst  the  temptations  of  taverns,  with  the 
sordid  hope  of  thus  intercepting  customers  and 
decoying  them  to  their  venal  doors. 


12  THE    MEKCHANT's    CLERK 

As  I  do  not  expect  to  toucli  any  point  wMch 
is  more  important,  I  would  seriously  demand  for 
it  the  best  consideration  of  every  merchant's 
clerk  who  may  take  these  pages  into  his  hand. 
Young  man,  I  charge  you  in  the  name  of  all  you 
hold  dear,  in  the  name  of  your  parents,  in  the 
name  of  Almighty  God,  to  break  away  from 
evil  companions.  Whatever  it  may  cause,  of 
offense  or  loss,  cut  the  connection.  "  Enter  not 
into  the  path  of  the  wicked ;  and  go  not  into 
the  way  of  evil  men  :  avoid  it,  pass  not  by  it, 
turn  from  it  and  pass  away."  Pro  v.  4  :  14- 
That  is,  shun  the  very  haunt  or  spot  where  the 
wretches  assemble  !  Neglecting  this,  you  will 
probably,  almost  certainly,  destroy  your  worldly 
prospects,  will  bear  the  disgraces  of  those  who 
are  even  worse  than  yourselves,  will  lose  your 
principles  of  morality  and  religion,  and  will  run 
the  risk  of  ruining  yourself  for  time  and  for 
eternity ! 

If  bad  company  is  thus  fatal,  how  may  a 
young  stranger  secure  that  which  is  good  ? 
Deeply  to  be  lamented  is  it,  that  the  answer  is 
difficult ;  only  because  commercial  society  is 
more  eager  to  secure  the  gainful  services  of 
young  men,  than  to  promote  their  moral  wel- 
fare.     The   uncorrupted   youthful   clerk   may. 


CHEERED    AND    COUNSELLED.  18 

liowever,  be  safely  advised  tlius  :  Be  cautious  at 
tlie  start.  Learn  tlie  character  of  those  around 
you.  Commit  yourself  slowly.  Especially  dread 
those  specious  persons  who  push  themselves 
upon  you.  Call  in  the  aid  of  older  heads.  Ad- 
vise with  the  wisest  of  your  employers,  as  to  the 
comrades  who  may  be  proper.  Make  bold  to 
call  upon  the  clergyman,  whose  ministry  you 
attend,  and  ask  his  counsel  to  a  friendless  youth ; 
my  word  for  it,  he  will  neither  repel  you  nor 
give  you  any  cause  to  regret  the  step.  Seek 
associations  in  church  and  Sunday-school ;  here 
you  will  find  both  companionship  and  protec- 
tion. In  like  manner,  inquire  for  those  associa- 
tions which  propose  the  protection,  rescue, 
instruction,  and  entertainment  of  young  men. 
Reject  promptly,  as  you  would  the  foulest  and 
most  noisome  animal,  every  companion,  however 
attractive,  who  speaks  impurely,  takes  God's 
name  in  vain,  violates  the  Lord's  day,  or  indulges 
in  intoxicating  drinks.  Blessed  is  he  who  meets 
with  a  good  associate  !  A  single  example  some- 
times gives  color  to  the  whole  life. 

Though  it  is  never  too  late  to  seek  reform, 
and  though  every  reader  should  be  exhorted  to 
hasten  back  into  the  right  path,  yet  honor  and 
success  are  on  the  side  of  him  who  has  not  begun 


14  THE    merchant's    CLERK 

wrong.  In  morals  as  in  business,  true  prosperity 
comes  from  a  fair  start.  The  first  steps  in  trade, 
tlie  first  iLonrs  in  a  situation,  tlirow  forward  tlieir 
influence.  The  ship  is  built  on  the  model  which 
is  first  laid  down.  The  plans  with  which  you 
put  on  your  office-coat,  the  day  you  enter  your 
shop,  store,  counting-room  or  bank,  mark  your 
direction.  As  the  railway-switch  is  turned,  so 
your  track  will  be.  All  which  is  so  well  known 
by  employers,  that  they  commonly  form  their 
judgment  of  the  entering  lad  before  the  first 
week  is  out ;  and  find  a  verdict  thus :  "  John  is 
dull ;"  or,  "  lie  is  heedless  ;"  or,  "  He  is  awkward 
— all  his  fingers  are  thumbs  ;"  or,  "  You  see  he 
is  an  eye-servant ;"  or,  "  He  is  incurably  lazy  ;" 
or,  "  He  has  all  vices  in  one,  for  he  lies  now,  and 
will  smndle  hereafter."  If  it  is  the  end  that 
crowns  the  undertaking,  it  is  the  beginning  that 
gives  it  form. 

By  what  possibility  can  a  young  man  begin 
business  aright,  who  has  no  notion  what  he  seeks  ? 
Such,  however,  is  the  case  of  many.  Ask  young 
Smith,  or  Thomson,  or  Johnson,  or  Stuart,  or 
Allen,  "  What  have  you  set  before  you  V  and  he 
is  dumb.  He  does  not  know  why  he  has  entered 
the  place.  If  his  views  are  mercenary,  he  might 
return  the  answer,  which  is  in  many  a  heart, 


CHEEEED    AND    COUNSELLED.  15 

"  To  make  money."  But,  my  beloved,  and  as  yet 
uncorrupted,  young  reader,  making  money  is  not 
tlie  ultimate  object  of  life.  Do  not  mistake  tlie 
means  for  tlie  end.  Money  is  but  a  subordinate 
means.  Fix  before  you  some  pure  and  lofty 
aim,  or  you  will  assuredly  become  one  of  the 
grovellers.  Let  tbis  be  tbe  pleasing  of  your 
Creator,  Benefactor  and  Saviour,  and,  insepara- 
I  )ly  from  tbis,  the  realizing  of  a  noble,  generous, 
symmetrical  character.  Resolve,  under  God,  to 
seek  all  the  perfection  of  which  your  powers  are 
capable  ;  and  go  to  that  desk,  or  that  counter, 
with  a  deep  purpose  never  to  flinch  from  a  duty, 
or  commit  a  deliberate  fault.  Now,  if  you  will 
lay  down  this  book  for  three  minutes,  look 
steadily  at  what  is  proposed,  and  in  reliance  on 
Divine  aid,  settle  your  decision  accordingly,  it 
will  be  superfluous  to  prescribe  petty  rules  for 
business. 

Parents,  employers,  and  senior  associates  will 
inculcate  upon  you  the  daily  duties  of  youi*  call- 
ing ;  indeed  you  already  know  them ;  which  may 
show  you  that  the  grand  desideratum  is  not  by- 
laws but  inward  principle.  Nevertheless,  take 
kindly  a  few  disinterested  counsels  from  one 
who  is  no  longer  young,  but  who  has  "  long 
cherished  a  warm  sympathy  mth  those  who  are 


16  THE    merchant's    CLERK 

beginning  life.  Under  tlie  general  determina- 
tion to  do  your  duty,  beware  of  early  disgusts, 
wlietlier  towards  persons  or  work.  All  new 
trials  are  burdensome  ;  all  beginnings  are  vexa- 
tious. He  that  ascends  a  ladder  must  take  the 
lowest  round.  All  who  are  above  were  once 
below.  "  An  two  men  ride  of  a  horse,  one  must 
ride  behind."  To  consider  any  thing  menial, 
which  belongs  to  the  career  of  training,  is  to  be 
a  fool.  The  greatest  philosophers  and  the 
greatest  commanders  have  passed  through  toils 
as  humble  and  as  galling.  These  hard  rubs  are 
an  indispensable  part  of  education,  and  it  is  best 
to  have  the  worst  first.  Cheer  up  on  cold  win- 
ter mornings,  when  you  blow  your  fingers  as 
you  walk  briskly  down  Broadway,  or  at  late 
hours  of  packing,  invoicing,  or  replacing  goods. 
Cheer  up  at  the  thought  that  it  will  make  a 
man  of  you.  Perhaps  you  remember  Latin 
enough  to  quote  the  words  in  Virgil,  "  All  this  it 
will  be  sweet  to  remember  hereafter."*  Recall 
enough  of  history,  to  think  of  what  Roman 
and  especially  Spartan  boys  were  accustomed  to 
bear.  Think  of  the  whaling- voyage  ;  think  of 
the  morning  drill  at  West  Point ;  think  of  the 

*  Glim  raeminisse  juvabit 


CHEERED    AND    COUNSELLED.  17 

ignominy  of  giving  up  prospects  in  life  out  of  a 
little  girlish,  disgust. 

Whatever  comes  of  it,  put  your  shoulder  to 
the  wheel  for  a  few  months ;  by  that  time  some 
of  the  rough  places  will  have  become  plain. 
Wear  the  yoke  gracefully.  Every  moment  of 
this  weariness  and  trouble  will  turn  out  to  your 
lasting  profit,  especially  in  regard  to  character. 
There  are  certain  things  which  you  will  be 
ashamed  to  class  among  hardships.  Such  are 
early  rising,  which  you  should  practise  foi* 
pleasure  and  longevity,  as  well  as  religion ;  ex- 
ercise in  the  open  air,  or  on  your  feet;  hard 
work,  tending  towards  knowledge  of  business  ; 
punctuality,  without  which  you  can  never  at- 
tain wealth  or  honor ;  and  tedious  employment 
in  affairs  which  secure  you  confidential  regard. 
In  all  these  temptations  to  discontent,  let  me 
venture  an  observation  on  life,  which  I  confess  it 
cost  me  many  years  to  comprehend.  Uneasiness 
in  the  youthful  mind  arises  from  a  fallacy  that 
we  may  express  thus :  "  Work  now,  but  rest  and 
pleasure  hereafter."  Not  merely  the  clerk,  but 
the  millionaire,  thus  deludes  himself:  "I  will 
bear  these  annoyances  in  view  of  the  refresh- 
ing and  luxurious  respite  of  my  hereafter."  In 
opposition  to  all  this,  let  me  declare  to  you,  that 


18 

these  hours,  or  days,  or  years  of  repose,  when 
the  mighty  oppressive  hand  of  the  giant  Busi- 
ness is  let  up,  will  be  none  the  less  sweet,  for 
your  having  taken  a  genuine  satisfaction  in  your 
work  as  you  went  along.  You  will  not  make 
the  journey  better,  if,  like  famous  pilgrims  to 
Loretto,  you  put  peas  in  your  shoes.     Form  the 

HABIT  OF  SEEKnTa  PLEASURE  IN  WORK,  HAPPINESS 
IN"  THE  DUTY  OF  THE  HOUR. 

The  period  when  the  young  man  is  about  com- 
ing of  age  is  very  important.  Now  it  is,  if  ever, 
that  he  is  most  tempted  to  slip  his  neck  out  of  the 
yoke,  and  most  harassed  with  wishes  prompted 
by  false  independence.  No  man  can  calculate 
the  mercantile  disasters  arising  from  the  prepos- 
terous wishes  of  young  men,  without  experience, 
ability,  connections  or  capital,  to  rush  into  busi- 
ness for  themselves.  Wise  delay  in  such  cases  is 
promotive  of  success.  The  number  of  principals 
is  far  too  great  in  proportion.  It  is  not  every 
man  who  is  formed  to  be  a  leader,  and  some  are 
clearly  pointed  out  for  subordinate  posts  as  long 
as  they  live.  But  as  these  are  often  the  very 
pei^ons  who  will  be  slowest  to  take  the  hint,  let 
it  be  the  maxim  of  all  to  adventure  no  sudden 
changes ;  to  wait  for  undeniable  indications  of 
duty  and  discretion ;  to  attempt  nothing  of  the 


CHEERED    AND    COUNSELLED.  ID 

sort  without  the  full  approval  of  older  heads ; 
and,  above  all,  to  play  the  man  in  regard  to  the 
unavoidable  annoyances  of  a  subaltern  place. 

To  be  successful  and  happy  costs  something. 
Assure  yourself,  that  if  you  yield  to  effeminate 
suggestions,  you  sink.  ISTobly  determine,  at  the 
hazard  of  some  weariness  and  some  smart,  to 
pass  contentedly  through  the  appointed  stages, 
and  to  become  a  thorough  merchant.  Consider 
how  many  a  man,  now  great  in  Wall  street, 
came  to  town  with  all  his  personal  effects  in  one 
bundle.  Away  with  home-sickness  and  queru- 
lous imbecility !  Tear  up  those  whining  epistles 
which  you  have  written  home;  write  rather 
on  your  private  memorandum,  Peeseverance. 
Quash  every  disposition  to  make  changes,  ex- 
cept where  they  tend  to  moral  benefit,  or  know- 
ledge of  business.  "It  is  ill  transplanting  a 
tree  which  thrives  well  in  the  soil."  Let  the 
cheerfulness  of  a  contented  mind  evince  itself  in 
deference  and  submission  to  those  who  control 
your  time,  and  in  uniform  good-nature  and  cour- 
tesy to  your  companions  in  business.  With  such 
principles  and  resolutions,  and  with  reliance  on 
Divine  Providence,  you  may  boldly  hope.  Brace 
your  nerves  to  meet  every  engagement,  and, 
however  poor,  you  will  succeed.     Dismiss  from 


20  THE  merchant's  clere 

youi"  soul  all  belief  in  tlie  divinity  of  modern 
pagans,  called  Luck,  and  stake  nothing  on  sud- 
den windfalls.  "  In  human  nature,"  says  Play- 
fair,  "  there  is  no  struggle  that  appears  more  un- 
equal at  first  sight  than  that  of  a  man  without 
connections  or  capital,  against  the  man  who  has 
both ;  yet  there  is  no  contest  which  so  constantly 
terminates  in  favor  of  him  who  appears  to  have 
the  disadvantage." 

Very  delicate  is  the  situation  of  the  young 
man  who  is  required  by  an  employer  to  do  that 
which  is  dishonest  or  dishonorable.  Every  thing 
must  be  surrendered  to  the  claims  of  enlight- 
ened conscience.  There  are  limitations  to  the 
individual  responsibility  of  an  agent,  which  can 
not  be  expounded  here ;  but  the  pure-minded 
youth  will  hasten  to  free  himself  from  engage- 
ments which  involve  falsehood,  fraud  or  provo- 
catives to  sin  in  others,  such  as  intemperance  and 
licentiousness,  and  desecration  of  holy  time. 
The  higher  we  go  in  mercantile  ranks,  the  more 
we  find  equivocation  and  disingenuous  finesse  to 
be  denounced  as  short-sighted  and  obsolete. 
Yet  among  the  thousands  of  city  merchants, 
there  will  be  an  admixture  of  those  who  deal 
by  craft,  the  "  wisdom  of  weakness,"  and  who 
exact  the  like  of  their  dependants.     But  the 


CIIEEREI)    AND    COUNSELLED.  21 

disguised  sharper  who  orders  an  honest  man's 
son  to  utter  a  lie  in  his  name,  to  customer, 
creditor  or  government,  should  expect  either 
to  be  cozened  in  his  turn,  or  on  the  spot  to  be 
abandoned  and  posted  by  the  indignant  youth 
whom  he  would  corrupt. 

In  a  class  of  persons  comprising  so  many  men 
of  honor  and  men  of  breeding,  as  that  of  Ame- 
rican merchants,  to  say  nothing  of  morals  and 
Christianity,  it  is  mortifying  to  find  some  who 
resort  to  ignoble  means  of  alluring  customers. 
If  a  young  and  uncorrupted  rustic  falls  into  such 
hands,  I  can  only  advise  him  to  seek  speedy 
deliverance.  The  entire  affair  of  flash  advertise- 
ments, decoys,  runners,  and  what  is  known  by 
the  slang  term,  DRUMMiNa,  belongs  to  a  system 
which  high-minded  commerce  has  long  since 
outrun  ;  the  system  which  led  Cheapside  shop- 
men to  cry  to  passers  by,  "  What  d'ye  lack  V^ 
which  lingers  in  the  market-place  where  herb- 
women  twitch  your  sleeve  and  laud  their  wares, 
and  which  maybe  seen  full-blown  among  Chath- 
am-street Jews,  who  wrangle  and  almost  fight 
for  the  privilege  of  investing  some  stranger  with 
a  half-price  coat.  Not  less  ignominious  is  the 
practice  of  lurking  about  hotels  to  gain  the 
acquaintance  of  arriving  dealers,  smirking,  and 


22  THE  merchant's  clerk 

bowing,  and  treating  for  their  good-will,  and 
playing  the  spaniel  at  their  heels,  at  oyster- 
house,  concert  and  opera,  in  order  to  divert 
custom  into  a  desirable  channel.  What  a  tax 
is  this  to  pay  for  trade !  And  how  like  Shylock 
must  he  feel  who  accustoms  himself  to  such 
grovelling ! 

"  Hath  a  dog  money  ?  is  it  possible 
A  cur  can  lend  three  thousand  ducats  ?  or 
Shall  I  bend  low,  and  in  a  bondsman's  key, 
With  bated  breath,  and  whimpering  humbleness, 
Say  this  — 

Fair  sir,  you  spit  on  ms  on  Wednesday  last ; 
You  spurned  me  such  a  day ;  another  time 
You  called  me — dog ;  and  for  these  courtesies, 
I'll  lend  you  thus  much  moneys  ?" 

Merchant  of  Venice^  I.  3. 

From  this  disagreeable  topic  let  us  pass  to 
what  some  have  named  the  lesser  morals  ;  and 
among  these,  as  certainly  preeminent,  the  care 
of  HEALTH.  Neglects  L^ere  come  back  with  ven- 
geance in  after  life.  Let  us  leave  out,  at  this 
place,  the  horrible  vices  which  poison  the  blood 
of  youth,  and  send  rottenness  into  the  bones. 
Smaller  errors  may  destroy  health.  The  vari- 
eties of  mercantile  life  can  not  all  come  under 
the  same  rule.  There  is  a  difference  between 
desk  work  and  street  work,  between  day  work 


CHEEKED    AND    COUNSELLED.  23 

and  night  work,  between  long  and  short  hours. 
In  general,  it  is  the  sin  and  shame  of  mammon- 
serving  employers,  that  they  arrange  the  times 
and  degree  of  business  with  little  reference  to 
the  health  and  improvement  of  those  whom  they 
employ.  Engrave  it  over  your  humble  mirror, 
that  temperance,  cleanliness  and  exercise  will 
make  you  hearty  and  alert.  "  The  three  best 
doctors  are  Dr.  Diet,  Dr.  Quiet  and  Dr.  Merry- 
man."  Continual  meddling  with  the  animal 
machine  is  not  the  way  to  promote  health. 
Asking  whether  this  will  hurt  or  that  will  hurt, 
generally  ends  in  a  state  in  which  every  thing 
shall  hurt.  When  Dr.  Johnson's  friend  Taylor 
happened  to  say  that  he  was  afraid  of  emetics, 
for  fear  of  breaking  some  small  vessels,  "  Poh  !" 
said  the  old  Doctor,  "if  you  have  so  many  things 
that  will  break,  you  had  better  break  your  neck 
at  once,  and  there's  an  end  on't.  You  will 
break  no  small  vessels."  And  then,  says  Bos- 
well,  he  puffed  and  blowed  with  high  derision. 
If  a  young  fellow  is  regular  in  his  habits  and 
moderate  in  his  food,  and  if  he  abstains  from 
tobacco  and  alcohol,  he  will  probably  have 
cheerfulness  and  strength.  Many  of  the  neural- 
gias, dyspepsias,  palsies  and  melancholies  of 
later  life,  arise  from  the  cigars  and  suppers  of 


24  THE   3IERCII ant's    CLERK 

boylLood,  and  their  consequences.  If  space  were 
allowed,  we  might  here  warn  every  young  man 
who  regards  his  health,  to  avoid  the  hasty  mas- 
tication which  prevails  at  eating-houses  ;  as 
likewise  we  might  implore  employers,  who 
themselves  sit  long  at  their  wine,  not  to  abridge 
the  moments  allowed  their  poor  clerks  for  this 
refection. 

Health  is  promoted  by  early  rising,  cleanli- 
ness, and  temperance.  "  Cleanliness,"  as  Wesley 
used  to  say,  "  is  the  next  thing  to  godliness.'' 
Scrape  the  surface  with  a  dull  knife,  and 
you  will  learn  why  it  is  not  enough  to  wash 
for  the  public,  cleansing  only  what  is  visible. 
These  are  not  trifles,  as  the  biography  of  all 
long-lived  men  will  demonstrate. 

While  I  am  upon  these  lesser  matters,  I  must 
be  allowed  a  word  or  two  upon  the  subject  of 
Dress.  The  garb,  in  some  sort,  expresses  what 
is  within.  How  many  an  employer  has  instantly 
rejected  an  applicant,  because  of  a  meretricious 
shirt-pin,  a  flash  waistcoat,  and  a  heavy  Califor- 
nian  chain  across  his  stomach.  Sharpers,  gam- 
blers and  foreign  adventurers  carry  the  most 
ostentatious  jewelry  ;  which  is  the  mark  not  of 
wealth,  and  not  even  of  fashion,  but  of  vulgarity 
and  upstart  pretension.    The  most  elegant  dress 


CHEEKED    AND    COUNSELLED.  25 

is  just  that  wMcli  no  man  can  remember  after 
you  have  left  tlie  room.  Youth  need  not  array 
itself  like  age ;  but  there  is  a  modest  reserve 
Avhich  commends  even  the  youthful  person. 
Everywhere  a  young  man  loses  caste  with  such 
as  know  the  world,  by  dressing  beyond  his 
means.  The  habit  of  extravagance  in  apparel 
leads  to  undue  expense,  and  is  a  particularly 
bad  sign  in  one  whose  salary  is  small,  and  whose 
parents  are  poor.  A  fop  is  a  fool,  as  truly  as  a 
sloven  is  a  savage.  On  this  head  I  am  reminded 
of  what  may  be  called  congruity  in  dress.  You 
shall  see  a  raw  young  fellow  whose  extremities 
do  not  match  any  more  than  Horace's  mixed 
animal.  Above,  it  is  winter,  below,  it  is  summer  ; 
furs  and  white  trowsers  ;  no  great-coat  in  snows, 
and  pumps  in  drenching  rains.  Chief-Justice 
Hale  used  to  say,  that  he  formed  a  judgment  of 
young  men  from  their  knowing  how  to  take 
care  of  themselves,  in  dressing  suitably  to  the 
weather.  Attention  to  one's  clothing,  in  trunks 
and  drawers,  at  lodgings,  belongs  also  to  good 
husbandry  in  youth.  Let  me  peep  into  these 
repositories,  unawares,  and  I  will  tell  you  how 
far  my  young  master  is  a  person  of  method,  and 
how  far  he  spares  trouble  to  the  toilsome  nee- 
dle-woman, whether  sister  aunt  or  mother,  who 

2 


26  THE  merchant's  clerk 

has  the  cliarge  of  his  wardrobe.  All  these 
things,  especially  in  one  away  from  home,  con- 
nect themselves  with  thrift,  advancement,  and 
even  inward  character. 

From  dress  and  ornament,  the  transition  is 
natural  to  manners  and  bearing.  The  same 
principles  govern  both.  Nothing  but  the  ex- 
amples of  good  society  can  insure  genuine  polish 
in  a  young  man ;  but  good  sense  and  good  taste 
influence  him  to  choose  and  follow  one  example 
rather  than  other.  The  grand  fault  of  Ame- 
rican young  men  is  pertness.  To  this,  it  must 
be  confessed,  the  airy  chat  of  the  counter  and 
the  sales-room  directly  tends.  Forward,  ill-bred 
boys  take  this  ease  for  elegance,  when  it  is  only 
effrontery.  Eules  can  not  be  laid  down  on  a 
matter  so  impalpable  ;  but  two  or  three  maxims 
will  not  be  denied.  Nothing  is  well-bred  which 
is  presuming  or  devoid  of  modesty.  Quick,  loud 
accost,  and  utterance  of  slang  terms,  designate 
the  pretender.  All  this  glitter  is  not  gold,  but 
pinchbeck.  Good  manners  are  not  indeed 
sheepish,  but  quiet.  Undue  eagerness,  even 
with  a  customer,  is  ungraceful,  and  misses  the 
mark.  Wherever  you  see  a  man  of  accom- 
plished manners,  you  find  one  who  treats  even 
the  humblest  person  with  respect.     Indeed,  in 


CHEERED   AND    COUN^SELLED.  27 

no  one  word  is  genuine  politeness  so  comprelien- 
sively  summed  up,  as  in  Defeeeds'ce.  This  is  to 
be  practised  and  acquired  in  hourly  intercourse. 
For  wMcIl  reason,  pray  avoid  the  Tom-Dick-and 
Harry  manner,  even  with  your  comrades.  Eely 
upon  it,  the  truest  armor  against  uncivil  obtru- 
sion is  courtesy  to  all  around  you. 

"  The  man  who  hails  you  Tom  or  Jack, 
And  proves  by  thumping  on  your  back 

His  sense  of  your  great  merit, 
Is  such  a  friend,  that  one  had  need 
Be  very  much  his  friend  indeed. 

To  pardouj  or  to  bear  it."* 

The  squads  of  young  roisterers,  whom  you 
meet  at  night  in  Broadway,  by  twos  or  by 
threes,  talking  in  a  voice  between  boy  and  man, 
and  very  loud  lest  they  should  be  thought  to 
care  for  any  body,  puffing  cigars  and  occasionally 
dragging  one  another  to  drinking-places  and 
bright  saloons,  are  not  the  persons  whose  man- 
ners one  would  copy ;  let  it  be  added,  they  are 
not  those  whose  names  will  hereafter  carry 
weight  on  'Change.  As  a  class  of  men,  it  must, 
in  justice,  be  said,  that  American  merchants  are 
remarkable  for  ease  and  propriety  of  demeanor. 

*  Cowper. 


28  THE  merchant's  clerk 

As  tlie  manners,  and  to  a  certain  extent  tlie 
morals,  of  every  man,  are  dependent  on  tlie 
society  wMcli  lie  keeps,  tMs  deserves  special 
attention  in  tlie  yonng.  It  ouglit  to  be  admitted 
on  all  hands,  tliat  young  men  engaged  in  mer- 
chandise need  some  associations  beyond  those 
wMcli  occur  in  business.  If  by  some  chance  the 
youth  has  access  to  the  house  of  his  principal,  it 
is  well ;  we  all  know  how  rare  is  such  a  case. 
One  of  the  worst  defects  in  the  present  condi- 
tion of  young  men  in  city  affairs,  is  that  they 
are  shut  out  from  the  genial  intercourse  of  a 
domestic  circle.  Human  nature  cries  out  foi* 
such  brotherhood.  If  good  companionship 
is  not  afforded,  there  will  be  a  resort  to  that 
which  is  seductive.  So  far  are  we  from  abridg- 
ing this  disposition  to  spend  a  portion  of  spare 
time  in  agreeable  company,  that  we  would  en- 
join it  as  a  means  of  improvement.  Nowhere  is 
the  young  man  safer  than  in  the  houses  of  his 
friends.  Especially  is  the  company  of  intelligent 
and  refined  women  a  cordial  and  a  medicine, 
cheering  to  the  jaded  spirits,  and  preventive  of 
a  swarm  of  vices.  The  shy  and  boorish  temper 
which  studiously  shuns  all  intercourse,  is  some- 
times found  allied  to  moral  obliquity.  No 
greater  favor  can  be  shown  to  a  youth  exiled  to 


CHEERED    AND    COUNSELLED.  29 

city  business,  than  to  introduce  Mm  to  a  fireside 
wMcL.  lie  may  freely  and  often  approach.  The 
Good  Samaritan  was  not  more  merciful  than  he 
who  descends  from  his  status  of  wealth  or 
dignity,  to  take  a  poor  boy  by  the  hand,  and 
lift  him  over  the  awkwardness  of  the  strange 
threshold.  It  is,  moreover,  the  facility  afforded 
for  enlarging  such  circles  of  evening  enjoyment, 
which  causes  us  to  set  a  high  social  value  upon 
church  connections,  which  smooth  the  young- 
man's  way  to  liberal  and  improving  friendships. 
Whatever  differences  exist  between  kinds 
of  business,  all  men  need  relaxation  of  soul  after 
the  day's  work.  You  may  tell  them  to  forego 
all  entertainment ;  but  you  talk  against  nature ; 
the  thing  is  impossible.  JSTor  are  those  the  best 
men,  who  never  seek  to  be  amused.  The  field 
for  such  entertainment  is  happily  spacious ;  but 
young  men  of  business  are  not  cared  for  in  the 
arrangements  of  society.  The  thing  manages 
itself  in  rural  districts ;  but  rational  recreation 
must  be  laboriously  sought  for  in  town.  And 
who  can  expect  of  the  young,  to  make  toilsome 
circuits  to  gain  a  safe  pleasure,  when  gaudy  in- 
dulgence beckons  them  at  every  brilliant  street- 
corner?  After  many  years  of  observation,  J 
declare  my  sad  conviction,  that  society  has  yet 


30  THE   MEECHANT's   CLERK 

to  reacli  a  great  reform  in  tlie  matter  of  inno- 
cent and  healthful  recreation.  The  duty  of  the 
moral  teacher  is  not  completed  when  he  has  ex- 
ercised his  censorship  over  amusements  which  he 
pronounces  noxious ;  it  is  demanded  of  him  to 
show  some  which  are  benign.  The  absence  of 
any  concerted  scheme  in  our  cities,  for  recrea- 
tions, scientific,  literary,  musical  or  gymnastic, 
to  which,  as  to  the  ancient  Palaestra,  our  care- 
worn youth  might  resort,  is  a  defect  which 
clamors  for  supply. 

But  in  the  very  degree  in  which  we  hold  that 
society  is  wronging  its  sons  by  failing  to  provide 
on  a  large  scale,  and  with  inviting  accompani- 
ments, generous  pastime  and  healthful  joy,  would 
we  sternly  charge  the  young  man  to  resist  the 
temptation  to  sinful  pleasure.  It  is  one  of  the 
first  dangers  of  the  novice  from  country  life. 
The  earliest  of  his  city  evenings  sometimes  set- 
tle his  fate.  The  gayly  illuminated  halls  for  eat- 
ing and  the  haunts  of  gaming  hold  out  strange 
colors  of  delight.  The  half-intoxicated  rustic 
sees  fairy-land  in  the  common  saloons  of  merri- 
ment. Theatrical  amusements  exercise  a  dread- 
ful fascination.  This  has  been  so  in  all  ages. 
Late  hours  at  places  of  public  amusement  con- 
duct to  all  the  rest ;  to  drinking,  gambling  and 


CHEERED  AND     COIHSTSELLED.  31 

unholy  love.  Under  the  guidance  of  some  new 
companion,  a  veteran  in  vice,  a  demon  in  seduc- 
tive power,  ready  to  turn  the  bolts  of  satire 
against  country  prejudices  and  childish  super- 
stitions, the  flexible  youth  goes,  only  half-con- 
senting at  first,  to  have  his  eyes  opened.  What 
can  be  more  hellish  than  the  wish  and  purpose 
to  debauch  the  conscience  of  an  innocent  boy ! 
I  would  gladly  persuade  every  such  young  per- 
son to  peruse  and  re-peruse  the  lessons  of  the 
wise  man  upon  a  delicate  but  momentous  branch 
of  this  subject."^' 

The  practice  of  playing  at  games  of  hazard, 
generally  begins  without  stakes.  But  the  only 
places  where  young  men  in  cities  can  indulge  in 
play,  are  those  which  lead  directly  to  gambling 
in  its  worst  forms.  Ceasing  to  be  an  amuse- 
ment, it  becomes  a  passion,  a  frenzy.  It  ab- 
sorbs the  thought  and  scorches  the  brain.  Re- 
sist the  first  cast  of  the  die  or  the  card,  and 
turn  away  from  the  path  of  destruction.  How 
many  thousands  are  the  instances  in  which  frauds, 
thefts,  and  even  robberies  have  had  their  origin 
in  the  wish  to  obtain  money  for  the  gaming-ta- 
ble. Generally  speaking,  the  merchant's  clerk 
is  already  ruined,  who  has  become  familiar  with 

*Pr()V.  7  :  G-27. 


82  THE  merchant's  clerk 

those  houses  of  high  play,  which  have  been  well 
named  hells. 

Can  it  be  necessary  to  put  any  intelligent 
young  man  upon  his  guard  against  those  dazzling 
assemblies,  by  whatever  names  disguised,  where 
nocturnal  hours  are  spent  in  promiscuous  danc- 
ing ?  The  gauze  veil  hardly  conceals,  even  from 
the  most  unsophisticated,  the  neighboring  lures 
of  the  cup  and  the  courtezan.  Young  man,  in 
regard  to  a  variety  of  exhibitions  and  reunions 
which  can  not  be  detailed,  ask  yourself  before 
you  cross  the  threshold,  how  you  would  like  to 
conduct  thither  a  pure  and  lovely  sister. 

Let  no  youthful  reader  think  my  caution  over- 
timorous,  when  I  earnestly  whisper  in  his  ear, 
My  son,  take  care  of  your  evenings.  The 
morality  of  most  young  persons  in  city  trade 
may  be  judged  by  the  way  in  which  they  pass 
these  hours,  especially  after  dark.  Happy  are 
those,  beyond  expression,  who  have  a  home, 
where  they  can  spend  these — ^probably  the  hap- 
piest hours  of  life — with  the  mother,  the  sisters, 
and  the  domestic  friends,  and  who  have  not 
taken  the  fearful  step  of  disliking  and  shunning 
this  shrine  of  virtuous  love.  Happy,  in  the 
next  degree,  are  those,  who,  though  among 
strangers,  have  found  the  path  to  cultivated  and 


CHEEKED    AND    COUNSELLED.  83 

Christian  circles,  uniting  relaxation  witli  pro- 
gress in  knowledge.  Happy,  also,  as  connected 
witL.  these,  or  even  in  default  of  these,  are  sucli 
as  know  the  charm  of  books,  of  libraries,  of 
scientific  lectures,  of  literary  gatherings,  and  of 
meetings  connected  with  any  of  the  fine  arts. 
Happy,  in  no  common  measure,  are  the  followers 
of  true  religion,  who  learn  to  employ  a  portion 
of  their  time  in  assemblies  of  devotion,  or  oi* 
fraternal  converse  and  philanthropic  effort.  But 
amidst  all  diversities,  one  thing  remains  fixed.  IF 
the  evening  and  night  are  misspent,  the  youth  is 
hurrying  towards  downfall.  Almost  all  the  cor- 
ruption of  young  mercantile  clerks  is  perpetrat- 
ed by  night.  Well  may  you  pray  to  God  to 
cast  a  sacred  shield  of  guardianship  around  these 
hours  of  exposure. 

It  is  the  more  necessary  for  the  young  man  in 
a  strange  city  to  be  resolute  and  decided  in  this 
matter,  because  he  has  to  make  head  against  a 
strong  torrent  of  circumstances.  Those  who 
have  mastered  this  tide,  and  reached  success,  are 
too  often  indifferent  about  the  poor  fellows  who 
are  still  struggling.  Again  I  must  say,  with  much 
earnestness,  the  state  of  society  in  our  cities,  is 
not  favorable  to  the  improvement  of  clerks.  In 
a  great  number  of  instances,  they  may  be  said 


34  THE  merchant's  clerk 

to  be  homeless.  Their  solitary  chambers  afford 
no  invitations,  except  to  sleep.  There  is  often 
no  cheerful  apartment  where  they  can  feel  them- 
selves to  be  welcome.  The  mansions  of  their 
employers  are,  of  course,  out  of  the  question. 
But  without  are  bright  streets,  and  gay  com- 
panions, decorated  halls,  warm  in  the  wintry 
night,  and  resonant  of  music.  How  irresistible 
are  these  temptations  to  the  minds  of  such  as 
are  not  forewarned  and  protected  by  sound  prin- 
ciples of  morals  and  religion;  and  how  many 
hundreds  of  youth,  every  year,  become  corrupted 
by  the  nocturnal  allurements,  so  strongly  in 
contrast  with  their  forlorn  lodgings !  But  great 
as  the  temptation  is,  it  must  be  manfully  resisted. 
The  struggle,  just  at  this  juncture,  is  often  for 
life,  nay,  for  more  than  life.  Here  at  this  very 
point,  upon  this  very  question,  how  one's  even- 
ings shall  be  spent,  the  road  forks,  and  bliss  or 
woe  are  on  the  right  hand  or  the  left.  Every 
unprotected  young  man  should  hasten  to  place 
himself  in  connections  which  may  afford  motive 
and  means  to  shun  evils  so  direful.  Those,  like- 
wise, who  come  to  wealth  and  influence,  should 
use  all  endeavors  to  introduce  new  elements 
into  our  social  state,  so  that  it  may  no  longer  be 
true,  that  thousands  of  youth,  the  hope  of  com- 


CHEEKED    AND    COUNSELLED.  35 

ing  generations,  are  in  this  respect  aliens  and 
orphans,  during  the  most  tempted  hours  of 
life. 

'V\Tien  we  mark  the  powerful  drawing  to  the 
night-cellar,  the  low  concert,  the  ball,  the 
equivocal  show,  the  theatre,  the  billiard-room 
and  the  den  of  infamy,  we  are  led  to  rate 
highly  every  hopeful  or  even  innocent  at- 
tempt to  create  counter  attractions.  At  the 
risk  of  all  sneers,  I  will  maintain  that  they  ought 
to  be  multiplied  a  hundred-fold  ;  as  they  ought 
also  to  have  the  countenance,  patronage  and 
frequent  presence  of  our  established  merchants 
and  other  men  of  wealth.  Lectures,  schools  of 
art,  collections  of  books,  of  plants,  of  minerals, 
of  statuary,  of  painting ;  societies  for  composi- 
tion, recitation,  debate,  music,  varied  entertain- 
ments ;  for  whom,  I  pray,  should  these  be  fur- 
nished, if  not  for  our  cherished  youth,  who  are 
to  be  the  great  commercial  leaders  of  a  more 
adventurous  age  ?  Let  no  labor  and  expense  be 
thought  too  great  when  such  objects  are  at 
stake ;  and  let  the  warmth  of  general  interest 
in  the  movement  convince  the  young  persons 
who  are  primarily  concerned,  how  great  are 
their  hazards,  and  how  important  the  struggle 
for  deliverance. 


36  THE  merchant's  clerk 

Sucli  contemplations  as  these  show  us  the 
value  of  early  mental  discipline.  It  is  cruel  to 
curtail  a  boy's  preliminary  schooling,  without 
urgent  need.  The  young  man  should  bless  God, 
if  his  parents  have  secured  to  him  a  good  edu- 
cation, even  in  rudiments  ;  and  if  he  is  wise,  he 
will  consider  every  one  of  these  precious  attain- 
ments a  foundation  to  be  built  upon.  True  it 
is,  that  the  city  clerk  has  few  hours  for  study ; 
but  even  moments  should  be  husbanded ;  and 
it  is  wonderful  how  much  odd  moments  may 
accomplish.  Half  the  moral  downfalls  of  young 
men  in  mercantile  houses  arise  from  the  want  of 
intellectual  excitements.  In  the  absence  of  these, 
and  to  flee  from  the  horrors  of  ennui,  they  must 
run  out  of  doors  for  animating  objects.  Nothing 
is  more  restless  than  youth ;  nothing  more  crav- 
ing of  rapid  pleasures.  But  ignorant  young 
men  do  not  know  what  elevated  and  exquisite 
pleasures  are  to  be  derived  from  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge.  In  this  view  of  the  case,  we  set  up 
a  great  barrier  against  vice,  when  we  infuse  into 
any  opening  mind  a  taste  for  reading.  If  con- 
sidered only  as  a  means  of  amusement,  and  as 
countervailing  the  seductive  objects  above  men- 
tioned, books  may  be  ranked  among  the  most 
valuable  aids  of  mercantile  discipline.     He  who 


CHEERED   AND    COUNSELLED.  37 

is  thorougUy  awake  to  tlie  pursuit  of  knowledge, 
will  be  unlikely  to  roam  tke  streets  with  swag- 
gerers, or  to  fuddle  his  wits  at  drinking-places. 
On  tMs  cardinal  point  of  my  whole  subject, 
let  me  crave  the  attention  of  the  clerk  or  young- 
merchant,  whose  eye  may  be  upon  my  page. 
My  dear  young  friend,  it  is  impossible  to  exag- 
gerate the  importance  of  what  I  am  now  advis- 
ing. It  were  little  to  say,  that  by  mental 
culture  your  power  and  your  happiness  would 
be  doubled  ;  say  rather  you  will  hve  in  a  new 
world,  and  be  another  man.  The  young  merchant 
is  not  expected  to  become  an  erudite  scholar, 
or  a  profound  philosopher,  though  such  might 
be  named ;  but  there  is  no  one  who  can  not 
acquire  knowledge  enough  to  be  his  great  profit 
and  unspeakable  dehght.  Knowledge  is  Powei\ 
says  Lord  Bacon.  Knoivledge  is  Pleasure^  we 
may  add  with  equal  truth.  Say  not  that  such 
pleasure  must  be  earned  by  long  pain.  It  is 
untrue.  The  early  obstacles  are  only  for  a  mo- 
ment ;  and  the  subsequent  pursuit  of  knowledge 
is  so  purely  pleasurable,  that  I  have  often  paused 
and  sat  in  amazement  at  the  blindness  and  folh' 
of  those  who,  with  every  opportunity  and  free 
invitation,  never  enter  on  it.  "  We  shall  con- 
duct you  to  a  hill-side,  laborious  indeed  at  the 


38  THE   MEKCHAin?'s    CLEKK 

first  ascent ;  but  else  so  smooth,  so  green,  so  full 
of  goodly  prospects  and  melodious  sounds,  tliat 
tlie  harp  of  Orpheus  was  not  more  charming."^* 
The  objections  which  are  now  rising  in  your 
mind  are  groundless,  and  would  instantly  vanish 
if  your  desires  were  right.  You  say  the  acquisi- 
tion of  knowledge  is  a  great  work.  True  ;  but 
you  are  not  to  do  all  at  once.  Step  by  step, 
men  cross  continents.  Constant  dropping  wears 
away  rock.  Sands  make  the  mountain,  mo- 
ments make  the  year.  You  say  you  have  no 
time.  I  wish  the  over-heated  business  customs 
of  trade  and  the  cupidity  of  capitalists,  allowed 
you  to  have  more.  But  let  us  look  this  spectre 
in  the  face.  There  is  not  one  clerk  in  ten  who 
does  not  spend  some  hours  in  idleness,  if  not  in 
vice.  More  may  be  learned  by  devoting  a  few 
moments  daily  to  reading,  than  is  commonly 
supposed.  Five  pages  may  be  read  in  fifteen 
minutes  ;  at  which  rate  one  may  peruse  twenty- 
six  volumes,  of  two  hundred  pages  each,  in  a 
year.  See  how  much  might  be  saved  from 
sleep,  from  Broadway,  and  from  the  theatre 
You  say  you  have  none  to  guide  you.  The  best 
scholars  and  men  of  science  will  tell  you  that  by 
far  the  most  valuable  part  of  their  education  Is 

*  Milton. 


CHEERED    AND    COUNSELLED.  39 

that  wMcli  they  have  given  themselves.  Vol- 
umes have  been  filled  with  the  autobiography 
of  self-taught  men.  Think  of  Franklin  the 
printer,  of  Linnseus  the  shoe-maker,  of  John 
Hunter  the  cabinet-maker,  of  Herschel  the  mu- 
sician, of  Dollond  the  weaver,  of  Turner  the 
printer,  of  Burritt  the  blacksmith.  Love  learn- 
ing, and  you  will  be  learned.  Where  there  is  a 
will  there  will  be  a  way. 

Begin  at  once ;  begin  this  very  evening.  Take 
time  by  the  forelock,  and  remember  that  it  is 
only  the  first  step  which  costs.  And,  having 
begun,  resolve  to  learn  something  every  day. 
Strike  the  blow,  and  avoid  the  weakness  of 
those  who  spend  half  of  life  in  thinking  what 
they  shall  do  next.  Always  have  a  volume  near 
you,  which  you  may  catch  up  at  such  odd  min- 
utes as  are  your  own.  It  is  incredible,  until 
trial  has  been  made,  how  much  real  knowledge 
may  be  acquired  in  these  broken  fragments  of 
time,  which  are  like  the  dust  of  gold  and  dia- 
monds. Your  journey  will  be  made  lighter  and 
even  shorter,  if  you  have  a  companion  ;  and  be 
assured  that  there  is  no  man  of  real  learning 
who  would  not  take  pleasure  in  lending  a  help- 
ing hand  to  a  beginner.  You  will  thank  me 
some  day  for  drawing  you  away  from  common 


40  THE   merchant's    CLERK 

pleasures  to  tlie  luxury  of  books.  Lord  Brough- 
am speaks  well  concerning  tke  pleasure  of 
study,  and  its  unlikeness  to  tke  low  gratifica- 
tions of  sense.  "  While  those  hurt  the  health, 
debase  the  understanding,  and  corrupt  the  feel- 
ings, this  elevates  and  refines  our  nature,  teach- 
ing us  to  look  upon  all  earthly  objects  as  insig- 
nificant and  below  our  notice,  except  the  pursuit 
of  knowledge  and  the  cultivation  of  virtue  ;  and 
giving  a  dignity  and  importance  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  life,  which  the  frivolous  and  grovelhng 
can  not  even  comprehend."  And  the  late  ac- 
complished Professor  Dugald  Stewart,  in  refer- 
ence even  to  those  who  begin  late  in  life, 
observes  to  the  same  effect :  "In  such  men, 
what  an  accession  is  gained  by  their  most  refined 
pleasures!  "What  enchantments  are  added  to 
their  most  ordinary  perceptions !  The  mind 
awakening,  as  if  from  a  trance,  to  a  new  exist- 
ence, becomes  habituated  to  the  most  interesting 
aspects  of  life  and  of  nature ;  the  intellectual 
eye  is  '  purged  of  its  film ;'  and  things  the  most 
familiar  and  unnoticed  disclose  charms  invisible 
before.  More  true  than  of  the  pleasures  of 
Vicissitude,  are  the  poet's  famous  lines,  when 
applied  to  this  case  of  one  awakened  to  the 
charm  of  knowledge : 


CHEERED    AND    COUNSELLED.  4  1 

"  The  meanest  floweret  of  the  vale, 
The  simplest  note  that  swells  the  gale, 
The  common  sun,  the  air,  the  skies, 
To  him  are  opening  Paradise." 

This  is  no  place  for  unrolling  tlie  chart  of 
studies.  But  there  are  some  which  seem  par- 
ticularly to  invite  the  notice  of  one  who  expects 
to  be  a  merchant.  The  command  of  a  correct 
and  easy  style  is  perfectly  attainable,  and  can 
not  in  our  day  be  left  unsought  without  great 
loss  and  poignant  mortification.  How  little  did 
Abbott  Lawrence  know  that  he  should  become 
the  successful  correspondent  of  princes,  or  Lord 
Ashburton  that  his  pen  should  ever  conciliate 
two  continents  ?  Arithmetic  and  accounts  are 
so  much  matters  of  trade  that  it  seems  officious 
to  name  them.  The  history  of  our  own  country, 
besides  being  delightful  to  every  American,  has 
a  particular  bearing  on  business.  Add  to  this 
so  much  of  the  history  of  trade,  and  its  pro- 
gress, legislation  and  restrictions,  as  may  con- 
duce to  the  knowledge  of  public  and  interna- 
tional economy. 

As  a  young  merchant  finds  his  trade,  his  asso- 
ciates, and  his  correspondence,  bringing  him  to 
greater  heights  and  a  wider  horizon,  he  will  find 
such  questions  as  these  rising  before  him  for  an 


42  THE  meechaistt's  cleek 

answer :  What  gave  distinction  to  the  mercliant 
princes  of  Italy  ?  How  did  commerce  come  to 
cross  the  Alps  and  glorify  the  Hai^se  Towns  ; 
and  what  is  the  mercantile  history  of  those 
municipalities  ?  By  what  means  did  Flanders 
and  Holland  surpass  England  for  a  time  in 
manufactures,  colonies,  and  navigation ;  and  what 
was  the  condition  of  Dutch  trade  when  our  city 
was  founded?  What  is  meant  by  the  Act 
of  Navigation,  and  has  it  wrought  most  good  or 
evil  to  Great  Britain  ?  When  was  cotton  intro- 
duced into  America,  and  what  are  the  bearings 
of  this  staple  upon  the  manufactures,  the  trade, 
the  wealth,  and  the  mutual  peace  of  England 
and  America  ?  Each  of  these,  and  of  such  as 
these,  is  a  proper  and  most  interesting  study  for 
the  young  merchant.  Nor  will  we  fail  to  hint, 
in  passing,  at  the  noble  fields  of  science  and  ele- 
gant letters,  and  the  incomparably  precious 
truths  of  Eeligion. 

Before  leaving  this  great  theme,  we  may  ad- 
duce a  most  important  reason  why  the  young 
American,  especially,  should  add  some  mental 
enlargement  and  refinement  to  his  strictly  mer- 
cantile education.  He  does  not  know  but  that 
he  may  attain  the  very  highest  social  position 
which  our  country  affords.     There  are  countries 


CHEERED    AND    COUNSELLED.  43 

where  trade  is  a  disparagement :  it  is  altogether 
the  reverse  in  America.  A  young  man  should 
be  unwilling  to  grow  rich  amidst  vulgar  ignor- 
ance. He  should  have  forecast  to  prevent  his 
breaking  Priscian's  head,  amidst  the  columns 
and  statues  of  his  sumptuous  library.  He  should 
study  a  little  in  youth,  so  as  not  in  age  to  be  the 
illiterate  foil  of  a  brilliant  wife,  and  the  blockish 
reproach  of  the  lettered  notabilities  whom  he 
invites.  To  escape  these  daily  mishaps,  great 
erudition  is  not  indispensable,  nor  any  outlay 
of  time  or  effort  beyond  that  which  an  ordinary 
mercantile  youth  may  command. 

From  what  has  been  said  concerning  the 
evening  entertainments  of  city  youth,  something 
will  at  once  be  inferred  concerning  the  value  of 
associations  for  social  ends  and  mental  gratifi- 
cation. These  may  be  compared  to  the  two 
fruit-baskets  of  the  Hebrew  prophet :  "  Figs, 
the  good  figs,  very  good ;  and  the  evil,  very 
evil  that  can  not  be  eaten,  they  are  so  evil.' 
(Jer.  24  :  3.)  What  they  need  is  the  guid- 
ance and  protection  of  superior  minds,  the 
wise  patronage  of  society,  and  the  sustaining 
and  corrective  pressure  of  parental  interest. 
Their  plans  are  too  momentous  to  allow  of  being 
separated  from  the  best  counsels  of  benevolent 


44  THE  MEKCH ant's   CLEKK 

and  learned  men.  The  clubs  wMcli  young  men 
get  up  among  themselves  not  merely  are  some- 
times frivolous  and  fruitless,  which  is  a  lesser 
evil,  but  often  become  the  arena  of  wrangling 
debates,  and  even  degenerate  into  night  brawls 
and  noisy  wassail,  like  the  gatherings  of  second- 
rate  firemen.  Here  again  our  caveat  against 
ultra-democracy  in  the  young  has  place  ;  inex- 
perience and  temerity  should  not  be  left  so  much 
to  their  own  disposal.  Society  at  large,  espe- 
cially that  governing  part  of  it  which  comprises 
our  mercantile  weight  and  wealth,  should  con- 
sult its  own  interests  enough  to  cast  an  eye  upon 
the  nocturnal  dangers  of  persons  in  their  em- 
ploy, and  to  devise  means  for  mental  pleasures 
which  are  as  true  and  as  necessary  a  part  of 
general  education  at  the  school  or  the  college. 
As  the  matter  now  stands,  we  would  exhort  the 
young  man  who  is  away  from  home  to  attach 
himself  to  some  group  of  friends,  who  are  at 
once  virtuous,  well-bred  and  intelligent,  for  some 
stated  fellowship  in  improving  exercises.  Those 
who  know  the  world  will  testify,  that  it  is  al- 
ways dangerous  for  a  young  man  to  have  many 
evenings  in  which  he  has  to  cast  about  him  for 
something  to  give  entertainment.  Among  the 
social  pleasures,  one  of  the  highest  places  should 


CHEERED    AND    COUNSELLED.  45 

be  given  to  Music.  Meetings  for  musical  prac- 
tice, when  sternly  guarded  against  convivial  ac- 
companiments and  after-pieces,  are  among  the 
long-rememLered  oases  in  a  desert  life.  We 
have  dwelt  much  on  this  subject  of  evenings 
and  nights,  with  their  enjoyments  ;  because  we 
know  how  large  a  place  it  has  in  the  thoughts 
of  every  clerk,  in  his  hours  of  freedom  from  the 
place  of  business.  The  world  needs  a  jog  at  its 
elbow,  to  awaken  its  consideration  of  the  alli- 
ance between  virtuous  entertainment  and  good 
morals. 

And  now  we  approach  a  part  of  our  subject 
so  grave  and  affecting,  that  we  might  well  lay 
down  the  pen,  and  ask  the  guidance  of  Heaven 
in  behalf  of  the  class  whose  good  we  contem- 
plate. It  is  that  of  PRIVATE  MORALS.  We  might 
rest  somewhat  on  the  business  side  of  the  ques- 
tion, if  it  were  not  despicable  in  comparison. 
For  if  you  look  around  you  in  society,  you  will 
observe  that  the  cases  are  very  rare  in  which  an 
openly  immoral  man  is  a  good  merchant.  Even 
minor  negligences  of  an  ethical  kind,  such  as 
frequent  gay  parties,  undue  display  in  furnish- 
ing, upstart  zeal  for  club-life,  and  keeping  fast 
horses,  are  observed  to  damage  a  man's  credit. 


46  THE   MERCHANT  S    CLERK 

But  we  speak  of  higlier  morals,  and  refer  to  a 
higher  principle.  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the 
beginning  of  wisdom.  Keligion  and  morals 
must  not  be  severed  ;  for  morality  is  a  part  of 
religion,  as  religion  is  the  source  of  morality. 
In  a  book  on  practical  ethics,  the  several  duties 
of  mercantile  life  and  of  young  men  in  business 
ought  to  be  catalogued  ;  but  within  these  limits 
we  can  only  deal  with  general  maxims,  exem- 
plifying these  by  a  most  sparing  selection  of 
particulars. 

The  chief  thing  is  principle.  No  empirical 
rules,  no  imitation,  no  regard  for  outside  or  for 
gain,  can  take  the  place  of  inward  purity  and 
right.  Consider  what  is  meant  by  a  young  man 
of  principle.  He  is  not  so  much  one  who  does 
this  and  that,  or  avoids  this  and  that,  as  one  who 
acts  from  a  heart-spring  of  perennial  conviction 
as  to  duty.  He  is  principled  by  intelligent  con- 
scientiousness. He  works  by  rule.  He  carries 
within  a  little  chart  and  compass  of  right  and 
wrong.  He  may  err  in  details,  but  he  follows 
his  conscience  ;  and  when  young  comrades  sug- 
gest this  or  that  form  of  doubtful  indulgence, 
he  resolves,  however  gaudy  the  lure  and  how- 
ever disgraceful  denial  may  be  in  their  eyes,  to 
refuse  point  blank,  and  to  hold  his  ground  with 


CHEEKED    AND    COUNSELLED.  47 

courage,  until  lie  shall  have  settled  the  right  and 
wrong  of  the  matter. 

This  virtue  of  courage  is  a  great  safeguard  of 
youth,  but  is  sadly  wanting  in  most.  Thou- 
sands of  crimes  begin  in  shame  or  fear  about 
declining  a  friend's  invitation.  The  novice 
dreads  above  all  things  to  be  thought  "  green." 
The  country  boy  blushes  at  the  charge  of  rustic 
innocence.  The  good  man's  son  is  twitted  with 
his  "  governor,"  and  is  asked  whether  his  mother 
knows  that  he  is  out.  Imbecility  and  cowardice 
are  not  proof  against  the  assaults  of  ridicule,  and 
so  become  an  easy  prey.  "  He  goeth  after  her 
straightway,  as  an  ox  goeth  to  the  slaughter,  or 
as  a  fool  to  the  correction  of  the  stocks  :  till  a 
dart  strike  through  his  liver  ;  as  a  bird  hasteth 
to  the  snare,  and  knoweth  not  that  it  is  for  his 
life."  (Prov.  7  :  22,  23.)  The  only  adequate 
provision  against  such  emergencies  is  found  in 
perpetual  regard  for  the  presence  of  God,  and 
immovable  determination  to  observe  his  law. 

Without  courage,  there  will  be  no  truth ;  and 
without  truth,  no  honor  and  honesty.  Nor  will 
there  be  any  of  these  without  reverence  for 
God.  To  lie,  and  to  swear  falsely,  are  parts  of 
ungodliness ;  both  exist  extensively  among  un- 
principled mercantile  men.   Inward  truth  is  the 


48 

beautiful  base  of  the  whole  commercial  column. 
Abhorrence  of  falsehood,  in  all  its  even  tolerated 
forms,  of  prevarication,  equivocation  and  eva- 
sion, should  be  cherished  by  the  commercial 
novice  concerning  himself,  as  it  is  universally 
entertaiu'cd  by  wise  employers  in  regard  to  such 
as  apply  to  them.  Whatever  fair  colors  we  may 
put  upon  them,  all  the  deceits  of  trade  are  so 
many  lies,  and  all  the  deceivers  are  liars.  The 
thing  is  not  disinfected  of  its  foetor  by  its  being 
for  custom.  Men  will  draw  blood  if  one  gives 
them  the  lie,  as  it  is  called,  who  will,  neverthe- 
less, daily  utter  and  act  the  lie,  at  the  counter 
or  in  the  street.  The  foundation  must  be  laid 
early,  and  the  trial  of  a  boy  often  involves  some- 
thing akin  to  martyrdom.  !N"o  youth  is  bound, 
or  even  allowed,  to  lie  for  his  employer,  or  lie 
for  his  living,  and  if  the  question  be,  "  lie  or  die," 
no  heroic  fellow  will  doubt  which  to  choose. 
The  same  reverence  for  God  will  govern  ever}' 
young  person  of  principle,  in  regard  to  the  more 
solemn  sanctions  of  the  oath.  However  ignor- 
ant and  loose  minds  may  regard  the  kissing  of 
a  book,  in  the  Custom  House  or  elsewhere,  as  a 
mere  rite,  every  oath  is  an  act  of  worship,  an 
appeal  to  the  heart-searching  God  as  witness, 
and  an  implicit  imprecation  of  his  judgment  in 


CHEEllED    AND    COUNSELLED.  49 

case  of  untruth.  So  nearly  allied  are  integrity 
of  word  and  of  deed,  tliat  tlie  common  people 
are  not  far  astray  when  they  say,  "  He  that  will 
lie,  will  steal,"  which  naturally  leads  us  to  the 
next  topic. 

Honesty,  in  the  common  meaning  of  the  term, 
is  the  cardinal  virtue  of  trade.  Integrity  in 
matters  of  business,  namely,  justice  between 
buyer  and  seller,  is  clearly  the  bond  of  union 
among  all  who  engage  in  exchange  of  value  for 
value.  To  j)ut  the  matter  on  the  footing  of  the 
adage  that  "  Honesty  is  the  best  policy,"  would 
be  looking  much  too  low.  Bright  honor,  in  all 
that  regards  property,  is  the  dictate  of  enlight- 
ened conscience,  and  is  pleasing  to  God.  Prin- 
ciples of  honesty  are  implanted  early,  perhaps 
at  an  age  earlier  than  the  entrance  upon  the 
most  juvenile  business.  The  community  is  star- 
tled when  some  great  sinner  absconds,  leaving 
hundreds  of  widows  and  orphans  beggared  by 
his  monstrous  frauds.  But  the  flood  which  has 
now  burst  its  banks  began  to  trickle  many  years 
ago;  and  close  inspection  will  perhaps  show 
that  the  princely  villain  has  long  been  living  in 
breach  of  other  commandments  besides  the 
eighth.     There  was  no  moral  principle. 

So  wide  a  subject  can  not  be  discussed  in  two 

3 


50 


pages.  We  warn,  we  charge,  we  beseech  the 
youth  who  enters  a  mercantile  house,  to  pray 
that  he  may  not  be  led  into  temptation.  You 
feel  safe ;  but  so  have  others — so  have  all  felt. 
The  sight  and  handling  of  money  works  changes 
in  the  mind.  "Where  there  is  chance  of  appro- 
priating what  is  another's,  he  who  does  not  fear 
God,  will  brave  the  risk  of  detection.  It  is  not 
only  perilous  but  destructive,  to  admit  the  trea- 
cherous thought  that  the  pettiness  of  the  crime 
removes  its  guilt.  Equally  delusive  and  ruinous 
is  the  pretext  which  commonly  veils  the  begin- 
nings of  embezzlement,  that  what  is  abstracted 
shall  be  replaced.  Theft  is  so  odious,  that  the 
poor  creatures  who  purloin  from  their  employers, 
do  so  under  some  fairer  name  than  that  of  steal- 
ing. Yet  such  it  is,  whether  by  detention  of 
funds,  false  entries  in  books,  deceptive  represen- 
tations as  to  value,  concealment  of  errors,  or 
connivance  at  the  petty  tricks  of  others. 

Ingenuous  youth  ought  to  be  made  acquamt- 
ed  with  the  fact,  which  we  derive  from  mei-- 
chants  of  the  highest  respectability,  that  cases 
of  private  dishonesty  are  much  more  common 
than  appears  by  any  public  statement.  In  banks, 
in  offices,  in  shops,  the  unwary  young  man  is  led 
to  appropriate  what  is  not  his  own.     Detection 


CHEERED    AND    COUNSELLED.  51 

follows,  but  to  prevent  exposure,  lie  is  quietly 
dismissed — ^perhaps  at  some  future  day  to  figure 
in  tlie  police  reports  of  San  Francisco.  It  is  an 
established  fact,  familiar  to  all  observers,  tliat 
larcenies,  and  frauds  of  this  nature,  connect 
themselves,  in  a  majority  of  instances,  with  more 
common  and  venial  faults ;  against  which  the 
inexperienced  should  be  warned.  For  example, 
the  straitened  clerk,  whose  parents  are  poor  and 
whose  salary  is  scanty,  has  been  silly  enough  to 
contract  debts  which  he  is  unable  to  pay.  There 
is  a  propagative  power  in  debt,  and  he  finds 
himself  sinking  deeper  and  deeper ;  it  is  one  of 
the  great  reasons  to  deter  from  becoming  thus 
involved.  Instead  of  making  a  clean  breast  of 
it  to  parent  or  employer,  he  abstracts  a  portion 
of  what  is  intrusted  to  his  watch,  under  the  self- 
delusion  that  it  is  a  loan.  Or  a  young  fellow 
is  buckish  and  vain  of  his  person.  He  dresses 
and  decorates  far  beyond  his  means  ;  and  in  an 
evil  hour  seeks  to  supply  his  necessity  from  the 
property  under  his  charge.  Or  he  has  been 
smitten  with  a  passion  for  the  theatre  and  iU 
kindred  entertainments,  and  thus  is  led  to  th(^ 
till,  the  drawer,  the  sealed  letters  for  the  mail. 
More  dreadful  yet  is  the  habit  of  early  gam- 
bling, itself  inseparable  from  dishonesty,  and  lead- 


52  THE   MERCHANTS    CLEKK 

ing  to  thousands  of  small  frauds  at  tlie  place  of 
business.  These  considerations  should  operate 
on  persons  in  such  posts,  as  a  powerful  argument 
for  plainness  of  dress,  temperance  in  food  and 
drink,  and  rigid  frugality  in  all  expenses.  'No 
young  aspirant  for  honorable  gain  can  ever  ac- 
quire too  intense  a  horror  of  the  beginnings  of 
dishonesty. 

Dreadful  is  the  case  of  a  young  man  who  finds 
himself  in  the  clutches  of  a  principal  who  is 
dishonest,  and  who  is  expected  to  forward  him- 
self by  indirect  gains.  The  victim  must  either 
abandon  the  place,  or,  what  is  infinitely  worse, 
become  a  rogue.  The  emulation  of  salesmen, 
in  busy  establishments,  is  stimulated  too  highly, 
when  youth  are  laid  under  inducements  to 
make  false  representations,  to  conceal  known 
defects,  to  shuffle  about  quality  or  prices,  and  by 
word  or  sign,  to  violate  the  bond  of  honor. 
Short-sighted  is  the  policy  which  leads  any  to 
bring  up  young  men  on  such  principles.  Yet  he 
must  have  lived  out  of  the  world,  who  knows 
not  that  the  frequency  of  such  deceptions, 
among  a  certain  class,  is  bewailed  by  honorable 
merchants  as  the  opprobrium  of  their  calling.  It 
was  this  view  of  the  perversion  of  trade,  which 
led  the  celebrated  Gouverneur  Morris  to  write 


CTTEEKKI)    AND    (H)rNSELLEl).  5o 

thus  in  his  diary  in  Switzerland :  "  I  think  I  have 
observed  in  this  country,  that  the  spirit  of  com- 
merce has  operated  in  the  cities  a  depravation 
of  morals,  which  nothing  can  cure  but  that  same 
spirit  carried  still  further."  Conformably  to 
this,  we  observe  the  contempt  with  which  such 
methods  are  habitually  scouted  by  great  and 
established  houses.  _ 

We  should  greatly  sin  against  our  conscience,  [ 
if  we  allowed  any  false  delicacy  to  withhold  us 
from  warning  our  young  readers  against  anothei* 
class  of  immoralities.  We  mean  such  as  are  of- 
fenses against  the  seventh  commandment ;  and 
these  as  well  of  thought  and  imagination,  as  of 
word  and  action.  What  tongue  can  tell  the  hor- 
rid, loathsome,  damning,  consequences  of  youth- 
ful impurity,  w^hether  social  or  secret !  Could 
our  hospitals,  with  their  lazars,  or  the  more  se- 
cluded pining  and  mental  ruin  of  self-destroying 
vice,  be  spread  before  the  tempted,  they  would 
shudder  and  fear.  Words  of  unchastity ;  pe- 
rusal of  licentious  books,  now,  alas,  common ;  in- 
spection of  loose  pictures,  prints,  and  exhibi- 
tions ;  and  converse  on  topics  which  should  not 
l)e  named,  are  working  daily  havoc  among  the 
young.  It  is  melancholy  to  know  that  the  dan- 
gers are  greatest  in  our  cities.      The  principles 


54  THE  merchant's  clekk 

of  tlie  Word  of  God,  deeply  fixed  in  the  lieart 
and  conscience,  furnish,  the  only  sure  protection. 
At  this  period  of  life,  temptation  will  certainly 
come ;  let  every  young  man  seek  the  aids  of  di- 
vine grace.  For  such  persons  the  history  of 
Joseph  is  a  most  valuable  study,  and  myriads 
have  been  restrained  from  transgression  by  re- 
membering and  reit^pl^g  his  words  :  "  How, 
then,  can  I  do  this  great  wickedness,  and  sin 
against  God  ?"     (Gen.  39  :  9.) 

Allied  to  these,  as  carnal  pleasures,  and  pro- 
vocative of  these,  are  the  indulgences  which  tend 
to  intoxication.  There  seems  to  be  but  one  patli 
of  safety  to  the  city  youth ;  it  is  that  of  entire 
abstinence.  No  method  is  so  simple,  none  so 
effectual.  It  is  amazing  that  any  young  man, 
so  long  as  a  single  shipwreck  from  strong  drink 
meets  his  view,  should  hesitate  to  save  himself 
from  the  peril.  Here,  again,  the  night-hours 
are  full  of  jeopardy.  It  is  madness  to  allow 
yourself,  even  for  once,  to  be  led  by  jolly  com- 
panions, to  enter  that  illuminated  house,  or  drink 
at  that  bar.  Cry,  Avaunt,  devil!  and  pass  by. 
Once  entered,  you  will  go  again,  and  again. 
Thus  when  you  shall  have  acquired  the  habit  of 
drinking,  you  will  be  possessed,  not  by  one  vice, 
but  by  the  parent  of  many  vices.     Summon  be- 


CHEERED    A>fD    COUNSELLED.  55 

fore  your  thoughts  the  worst  and  most  ghastly 
drunkards  you  have  ever  known,  and  then  con- 
sider that  there  is  not  one  of  these  dewiiiiiacs, 
who  was  not  once  as  pure  and  as  fearless  as 
yourself.  Keep  yourself  pure.  Contaminate  \ 
not  this -blessed  period  of  youth,  by  making  it 
the  avenue  to  possible  crimes.  The  course  of 
temperance  is  one  which  in  no  event  you  can  ever 
regret.  Above  all,  set  a  guard  upon  appetite 
and  cowardice,  at  the  moment  in  which  you  are 
tempted  by  convivial  and  less  cautious  asso- 
ciates. And,  as  you  value  your  prospects  for  life, 
and  your  soul's  health,  never  allow  yourself  to 
be  caught  a  second  time  in  the  room  where 
there  is  carousing,  or  in  the  street  group  whicli 
turns  aside  into  the  depositories  of  liquor.  But, 
as  has  been  already  declared,  it  is  beyond  our 
power  to  stigmatize  vices  in  detail.  The  great 
jewel  to  be  prized  and  watched,  is  the  internal  I 
desire  and  purpose  of  doing  right. 

So  tender  is  the  relation  between  parent  and 
child,  that  where  it  is  not  religiously  observed, 
there  can  be  no  soundness  of  character.  If  this 
is  gone,  all  is  gone.  I  have  alluded  to  the  fact 
that  so  many  young  men  in  city  life  have  left 
parents  in  other  places  ;  and  I  have  always  felt 
that  it  gave  increased  interest  to  the  class  whom 


56  THE  merchant's  clerk 

I  address.  The  first  impression  on  leaving  honie 
is  always  sorrowful  yearning ;  but  afterwards 
there  comes  in  many  a  stage  of  neglect,  if  not 
of  indifference.  Hence  young  men  should  be 
exhorted  to  maintain  a  constant  and  frequent 
correspondence,  by  letter  and  visits,  with  the 
honored  and  beloved  home.  These  divinely  or- 
dered attachments  are  among  the  safeguards  of 
wtue.  Think  often,  young  reader,  of  the  anx- 
iety of  those  parents  on  your  account ;  yet  the 
greatest  of  these  throes  are  as  yet  unknown  by 
you.  These  solicitudes  have  increased  as  you 
have  grown  older,  and  reached  their  summit 
when  you  left  the  threshold  of  your  infancy.  If 
those  venerated  guardians  of  your  life  are  truly 
religious  persons,  you  need  nothing  from  me  to 
inform  you  what  is  their  chief  wish  concerning 
you.  The  happiness  of  their  declining  years  is 
very  much  committed  to  your  trust,  and  is 
every  way  a  generous  motive  for  you  to  be 
temperate,  honest  and  successful,  that  thus  you 
may  cherish  and  shelter  their  old  age,  as  by  a 
contrary  course  you  may  bring  down  their  gray 
hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave. 

Little  does  the  giddy  youth  guess  the  conflicts 
of  the  parent,  on  whom,  perhaps,  he  has  but 
lately  drawn  for  the  supplies  which  he  squan- 


CHEERED    AXU    COUNSELLED.  57 

ders.  In  his  boisterous  and  inexcnsable  nights, 
he  thinks  not,  though  it  be  true,  that  the  aged 
pair  are  by  the  home  foeside,  projecting  for 
him  some  innocent  joy  which  he  has  long  out- 
lived and  learned  to  despise.  The  son  may  be 
deep  in  drink,  in  gaming,  in  loose  enjoyment, 
when  that  father  and  that  mother  are  on  their 
knees  before  God,  invoking  every  blessing  on 
his  head,  and  especially  his  eternal  good.  There 
is  many  a  mother  caressing  her  lovely  infant, 
who,  if  she  could  foresee  his  course  of  profligacy, 
would  rather  behold  him  dashed  to  pieces  while 
yet  a  child,  than  live  to  be  his  own  destroyer. 
May  I  not  use  these  familiar  but  affecting  con- 
siderations as  urgent  motives  why,  in  this  your 
absence  from  home,  you  should  carry  joy  to 
your  parents'  hearts  ?  By  industry,  by  frugal- 
ity, by  purity,  by  religion,  realize  that  prompt- 
ing which  rises  within  you.  "A  wise  son 
maketh  a  glad  father  ;  but  a  foolish  son  is  the 
heaviness  of  his  mother."  (Pro v.  10  :  1.)  Not 
only  let  a  regard  for  filial  duty,  and  a  fear  of 
adding  to  parental  woe,  arm  you  against  the 
seductions  of  vice,  but  continually  act  as  in  the 
presence  of  those  revered  counsellors ;  remember 
their  precepts,  and  ask  God's  aid  to  requite  them 
for  their  love. 


58 


Thus  you  perceive  I  have  been  almost  imper- 
ceptibly led  to  touch  on  Religion,  as  tlie  only 
certain  protection  from  tbe  dangers  of  the  city. 
It  might  be  set  before  you  as  not  less  truly  the 
cause  of  worldly  happiness.  While  some  dream 
of  fortune,  the  wise  youth  will  trust  in  his  fa- 
ther's God.  "  Acknowledge  the  Lord  in  all  thy 
ways,  and  he  will  direct  thy  paths."  Take  the 
affectionate  counsel  of  one  who  is  growing  old, 
and  forsake  not  the  morning  and  the  evening 
devotion,  nor  the  perusal  of  that  Bible,  the  gift, 
perhaps,  of  a  mother's  hand.  With  equal  ear- 
nestness do  I  implore  you  to  regard  the  day  of 
holy  rest,  and  to  go  regularly  to  some  one  stated 
place  of  worship.  The  habit  of  roving  from 
church  to  church  is  common  with  young  men, 
but  is  inc6?isistent  with  genuine  devotion  and 
improvement.  You  will  be  a  gainer  for  life  by 
entering  closely  into  the  associations  of  some 
Christian  church.  It  will  be  your  Sunday  home ; 
it  will  make  you  the  safest  friends  ;  it  will  give 
you  reputation  and  credit;  it  will  cultivate 
social  and  religious  habits ;  and  it  will  bring 
you  early  into  active  philanthropic  habits,  for 
which  the  Christian  merchants  of  [N'ew-York 
remain  unsurpassed.  If  you  have  erred  in  this 
respect,  hasten  to  retrace  your  steps.      Lose  no 


CHEERED    AND    COUNSELLED.  59 

time  in  securing  yourself  a  place  in  tlie  liouse  of 
worship,  and  an  opportunity  of  teacMng  or  of 
learning  in  some  religious  class.  In  some  hour 
of  illness  and  peril,  you  may  remember  what 
you  now  read,  experiencing  the  fraternal  sup- 
ports of  Christian  affection. 

True  religion  is  the  perfection  of  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  being.  It  is  a  secret  thing, 
but  of  most  public  consequences.  From  its 
nature,  it  is  suited  to  every  period  of  life,  but 
peculiarly  beautiful  in  youth.  Infinitely  re- 
moved from  all  grimace,  superstition,  bigotry 
and  show,  it  is  perfectly  compatible  with  every 
variety  of  innocent  labor  and  successful  enter- 
prise. Its  maxims,  principles,  methods  and 
promises,  you  will  find  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
But  especially  will  you  behold  it  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life  ;  true  religion  is  the  belief  of  his  truth,  and 
the  following  of  his  example.  In  those  moments, 
especially,  when  in  solitary  musing  you  are  made 
to  feel  the  hollowness  of  earthly  things,  recog- 
nize the  gentle  drawing  to  a  portion  which  can 
satisfy,  and  learn  that  Wisdom's  ways  are  ways 
of  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths  peace. 

I  should  greatly  fail  of  my  purpose,  if  I  left 
on  any  youthful  mind  the  impression  that  reli- 


60  THE   merchant's    CLERK 

gion  is  merely  negative.  No,  no  !  When  I  con- 
template the  power  wielded  by  the  mercantile 
talent,  enterprise,  and  wealth  of  New-York,  and 
then  see  the  army  of  youthful  recruits  who  are 
pressing  forward,  I  glow  with  new  desire  that 
they  may  attain  a  manly,  earnest,  courageous 
Christianity.  Our  best  hopes  for  the  Church  of 
the  future,  under  God,  is  in  what  we  descry  of 
promise  in  young  Christians.  Consider  what 
kind  of  religion  is  demanded  by  the  period 
about  to  dawn.  Is  not  manly  earnestness  in 
Christ's  cause  especially  required  for  the  times 
which  are  coming  upon  the  earth  ?  No  one 
who  has  at  all  kept  abreast  of  the  times,  can 
give  a  glance  into  the  future,  without  starting 
up,  roused  and  expectant,  at  the  probabilities 
of  trying  times  and  near  emergencies,  which 
will  call  for  stout  hearts  and  strong  hands. 
The  combination  of  omens  during  a  few  years, 
naturally  leads  reflective  patriots  and  Christians 
to  search  afresh  into  the  prophetic  oracles  ;  and 
both  Providence  and  the  Word  teach  us  to  await 
a  period  in  which  a  robust  Christianity  shall 
have  all  its  nerve  brought  to  the  test.  This 
conflict  will  involve  the  capital  of  our  extensive 
commerce  and  the  mighty  men  of  trade.  Woe 
to  the  young  man,  who  goes  up  to  this  battle 


CHEERED    AND    COUNSELLED.  61 

with  weak  and  sickly  habit,  with  slender  faith, 
and  with  wanino^  love.  In  exhortation  to  the 
whole  class,  therefore,  I  would  say,  Be  men,  m 
knowledge,  in  self-denial,  in  endurance,  in  effort, 
in  perseverance,  in  love.  "Whatever  contributes 
to  your  real  piety  will  add  to  your  strength. 
No  increase  of  outward  act,  no  pragmatical 
hurrying  from  toil  to  toil,  no  forwardness,  no 
bustle,  will  make  you  powerful  for  good ;  all 
these  may  exist  in  the  absence  of  both  purity 
and  benevolence.  But  devoted  attention  to  the 
Scriptures,  and  private  prayer,  in  such  hours  as 
even  the  busy  may  redeem  for  this  purpose,  will 
do  it ;  the  habit  of  performing  common  acts  as 
religious  duties,  will  do  it ;  communion  with  a 
dying  Saviour  will  do  it ;  the  "  unction  from  the 
Holy  One"  will  do  it.  Let  me  leave  with  you 
my  vehement  charge,  that  you  seek  a  religion 
higher,  broader  and  deeper  than  we  your 
counsellors  have  acquired  in  our  tardy  age,  or 
than  you  observe  around  you  m  a  world  mad- 
dened by  devotion  to  Mammon. 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS  : 

THEIR   POSITION,  INFLUENCE,  AND   DUTIES, 
TO  THEMSELVES,  TO  SOCIETY,  AND 

ESPECIALLY 

TO  THEIR  EMPLOYEES. 


JOHN  TODD,  D.D. 


MEN   OF  BUSINESS: 


We  have  no  doubt  that  had  the  arrange- 
ments of  Providence,  and  the  whole  order  and 
condition  of  human  society,  been  entirely  differ- 
ent from  what  it  actually  is,  it  would  have  been 
Tvise ;  not  because  we  can  see  how  it  could  be, 
but  because  we  believe  that  God  could  not  and 
would  not  establish  any  order  which  would  not 
be  wise.  If  he  had  so  arranged  things  that 
every  star  had  shone  with  equal  brightness  ; 
that  every  mountain  had  been  of  equal  height ; 
that  every  tree  had  been  of  equal  size;  that 
every  flower  had  been  of  equal  brilliancy  ;  that 
every  breeze  had  been  of  equal  strength ;  that 
every  human  body  had  been  of  the  same  pro- 
portion, and  that  every  human  mind  had  been 
of  the  same  powers  and  faculties,  we  have  no 
doubt    it    would    have     been    thus,    because 


MEN    OF    BUSINESS 


this  was  the  wisest  plan :  but  because  we  see  it 
is  not  so  ;  tbat  no  two  things  are  alike  and  in  all 
respects  equal ;  that  no  two  waves  of  the  ocean 
are  of  just  the  same  height,  no  two  blasts  of 
wind  of  the  same  strength,  no  two  sj)ires  of  grass 
precisely  alike,  and  inasmuch  as  we  see  through 
all  the  works  of  God  endless  variety  combined 
with  perfect  unity — ^men  of  different  colors,  and 
forms,  and  sizes ;  of  different  minds  and  capaci- 
ties ;  some  lofty  and  some  lowly ;  some  strong  and 
some  weak ;  some  giants  and  some  pigmies ;  some 
rich  and  some  poor ;  some  active  and  full  of  en- 
ergy and  fire,  and  some  timid  or  sluggish,  we 
have  no  doubt  but  this  arrangement  is  the 
wisest  possible.  Mutual  dependence  runs 
through  all  the  works  of  our  heavenly  Father. 
The  dull,  gray  lichen,  that  clings  to  the  rock 
and  draws  its  life  from  the  cold  stone,  is  slowly 
gnawing  that  rock  into  fragments  so  small  that 
the  proud  tree  of  the  forest  may  take  it  up  for 
nourishment.  The  planets  hang  in  the  heavens 
and  roll  in  their  orbits  by  mutual  dependence, 
balancing  and  hanging  upon  each  other.  De- 
stroying one,  or  changing  its  position,  would 
change  the  whole  face  of  the  heavens. 

Let  it  be  once  settled  in  the  mind  that  Infi- 
nite "Wisdom  has  seen  fit  to  have  mutual  depend- 


POSITION,    INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  3 

ence  among  his  creatures,  and  then  we  can  see 
why  under  his  government  there  should  be  di- 
versities of  gifts — why  there  should  be  differ- 
ent stations  and  positions  in  life ;  some  high  and 
some  low  ;  some  honored  and  some  unknown  ; 
some  rich  and  some  poor ;  some  to  plan  and 
some  to  execute ;  some  to  be  like  large  lakes  to 
collect  the  waters,  and  some  like  the  pipes  to 
distribute  the  waters  when  collected.  The  wise 
and  the  unwise,  the  strong  and  the  weak,  the 
educated  and  the  neglected,  the  full  and 
the  empty,  are  all  mingled  together,  and  all 
mutually  dependent  on  one  another.  The  care 
and  toil  and  anxiety  of  the  parent,  and  the  joy- 
ous laugh  of  childhood,  and  the  fresh  smile  of 
infancy,  are  all  parts  of  the  happiness  to  be 
found  in  a  family.  Take  any  one  out,  and  you 
take  out  a  golden  link.  Hush  one  voice  in 
death,  and  you  bring  a  shadow  over  the  dwell- 
ing, which  will  continue  to  darken  it  as  long  as 
life  remains. 

Instead  of  doing  away  with  these  diversities 
of  gifts,  and  breaking  up  the  arrangements  of 
Divine  Providence,  the  Gospel  comes  in  to  regu- 
late and  guide  them,  and  make  them  all  work 
in  beautiful  harmony.  There  will  always  be 
the  necessity  for  laws  and  rulers,  for  the  differ- 


4  jviex  of  business  : 

ent  professions,  for  ricli  men  and  poor  men,  for 
teachers  and  pupils,  for  men  to  plan  and  men 
to  execute,  masters  and  servants  ;  and  tliese  dis- 
tinctions will  always  exist.  Some  are  fitted  in 
the  providence  of  God,  by  natural  talents,  by 
caj)ital,  one  or  both,  to  be  employers,  and  some 
are  fitted  to  be  employed. 

In  a  land  where  the  Grospel  has  roused  up  the 
human  mind,  educated  it  universally,  and  created 
great  industry,  there  will  be  great  wealth  ;  and 
this  wealth  must  be  kept  moving,  changing 
forms  and  places  and  hands.  It  must  find  new 
channels  in  whictf  to  flow,  new  markets  to  sup- 
ply, and  create  new  demands  where  no  demand 
exists.  In  heathen  countries,  where  the  in- 
tellect sleeps  and  is  uneducated,  there  is  com- 
paratively little  wealth.  Macaulay  testifies  that 
India,  in  its  dark  heathenism,  is  one  of  the 
poorest  countries  in  the  world.  In  our  own 
country  the  Gospel  has  from  the  beginning  so 
far  laid  its  hand  upon  the  nation  that  it  has 
educated  it,  awakened  the  intellect,  called  forth 
new  and  important  inventions,  created  a  great 
amount  of  wealth,  and  put  every  thing  in  mo- 
tion. The  streams  are  harnessed  and  made  to 
draw  ;  the  earth  is  dug  open  and  made  to  yield 
fire,  and  light,  and   power   for  machinery ;    a 


greater  number  of  tons  of  merchandise  is  an- 
nually moved,  tlian  by  any  other  nation ;  manu- 
factories of  every  thing,  and  machinery  for 
changing  the  form  of  every  thing,  are  every 
where  set  up.  All  this  goes  to  create  and  call 
out  men  possessing  a  peculiar  kind  of  talent,  a 
peculiar  natural  endowment ;  and  these  consti- 
tute a  distinct  and  a  very  important  class.  I 
mean  what  is  commonly  called  the  business 
MEN  of  the  age.  It  embraces  a  great  variety 
of  occupations  and  employments.  I  include  in 
it  all  who  give  their  time  and  thoughts  to  a 
particular  branch  of  business,  inch  as  bankers, 
insm^ance  companies,  merchants  of  all  descriji- 
tions,  ca]3italists,  manufacturers,  railroad  and 
canal  contractors,  master  mechanics,  ship-mas- 
ters, and  all  who  employ  others  to  manage 
movable  property.  Modern  cities  are  built  ex- 
pressly as  business-posts;  ancient  cities  were 
Ijuilt  for  defense.  A  modern  city  is  built  on  a 
harbor,  so  as  to  be  easily  accessible  to  the 
ocean;  ancient  cities  were  built  on  the  river, 
away  from  the  ocean,  accessible  to  fertile  lands. 
Modern  cities  pay  little  attention  to  the  ques- 
tion of  defense,  and  ask  no  walls ;  ancient  cities 
made  this  the  great  question.  Hence  our 
modern  cities   are   the  gathering-points  where 


Vkr. 


r»i^- •  -tf' 


b  MEN    OF    business: 

lousiness  men  congregate,  and  are  the  tunnels 
througli  whicli  they  pour  the  creations  of  hu- 
man industry.  They  contain,  of  course,  and 
naturally,  more  business  men  than  any  other 
portion  of  the  country.  In  Boston,  as  near  as 
I  can  ascertain — and  I  suppose  that  to  be  a 
fair  specimen  of  a  business  city — the  business 
men  are  about  one  to  fifteen  or  sixteen  of  the 
inhabitants.  In  our  large  flourishing  country 
villages,  it  will  be  much  less — ^probably  not 
more  than  one  business  man  to  fifty  of  the  in- 
habitants. In  our  small  towns  far  less  still — 
probably  not  more  than  one  in  an  hundred. 
Strict  accuracy  on  this  point,  if  attainable,  is 
not  important.  It  is  plain  that  they  constitute 
but  a  small  part  of  the  population.  And  yet 
they  are  a  most  important  class,  and  it  is  to 
these  business  men  that  I  now  wish  to  speak. 
I  have  called  them  an  impoetant  class  of  men  ; 
and  there  are  several  reasons  why  I  consider 
them  important. 

I.  Th6  circulating  medium  of  the  world  is  all 
in  their  hands. 

It  would  be  difiicult  to  know  how  much 
money — ^the  circulating  wealth  of  the  world — 
is  in  their  hands,  or  how  much  changes  hands 


POSITION,    INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  7 

daily.  Probably  to  do  the  business  of  New- 
York,  not  less  tlian  ten  millions,  if  not  twenty 
millions,  of  money  changes  hands  every  day — 
to  say  nothing  about  the  merchandise  bought 
and  sold  on  credit.  This  mighty  tide  is  swayed, 
ebbing  and  flowing  every  moment.  They  have 
the  power  to  create  a  panic,  to  honor  or  dis- 
honor a  nation,  every  day.  They  can  give  their 
city  and  country  a  good  name  all  over  the  earth, 
or  they  can  carry  bankruptcy  over  a  wide  do- 
main. There  is  no  earthly  power  which  is  felt 
so  quickly  or  so  widely  as  the  power  that  moves 
the  ciixiulating  medium.  Half  a  dozen  men  in  a 
country  bank,  though  the  bank  is  but  a  drop  in 
the  bucket  compared  with  the  real  estate  in 
the  place,  can  often  control  a  whole  town  ;  and 
half  a  dozen  banks  in  a  great  city  often  control 
the  city — ^because  they  can  control  the  circulat- 
ing medium.  A  single  manufacturer  can  throw 
a  gloom,  in  an  hour,  over  the  dwellings  of  all 
his  workmen.  Keady  money  is  ready  power  ; 
and  the  men  who  have  all  the  money  of  a  nation 
in  their  hands,  must  be  an  important  class. 

II.  The?/  are  important^  hecause  all  the  mova- 
hie  ivealth  is  in  their  hands. 

The  ore  that  comes  out  of  the  earth,  the  coal 


MEN    OF   BUSINESS  I 


that  follows  the  ore,  the  products  of  all  the  fac- 
tories, all  the  workshops,  of  all  the  machinery, 
of  all  the  agriculture,  of  all  the  fisheries — in 
short,  every  thing  that  can  be  raised  from  the 
ocean,  from  the  land,  every  thing  that  can  be 
moved  on  land  or  on  the  water,  every  thing 
that  human  ingenuity  and  sMU  and  toil  can 
produce,  is  in  the  hands  of  these  business  men. 
It  may  not  be  theirs,  but  it  is  passing  through 
their  hands.  It  is  for  them  to  manage.  They 
may  have  all  the  machinery  that  human  ingenu- 
ity can  invent,  and  they  may  have  the  best  and 
the  largest  ships  that  ever  sailed;  but  they 
must  change  the  form,  and  the  place,  and  the 
value  of  all  the  property  of  the  world.  There 
is  not  a  farm  in  the  land,  nor  an  acre  of  ground, 
nor  a  cow,  nor  a  sheep,  whose  value  is  not 
affected  by  these  men.  Their  honesty,  capacity, 
activity,  energy  and  skill,  make  a  nation  pros- 
perous or  otherwise.  The  beautiful  lands  of 
Italy  nourish  the  wild  boar,  and  he  can  be 
hunted  within  two  and  a  half  hours'  ride  from 
the  gates  of  Rome,  and  the  sunny  skies  hang 
over  a  starving  population,  because  there  is  no 
class  of  business  men  there  —  they  are  neither 
encouraged  nor  allowed,  and  the  land  is  running 
to  poverty  and  desolation. 


POSITION,    INFLUENCE,  AND   DUTIES.  9 

III.  The  business  men  of  a  nation  lia/ve  most 
of  the  activity  of  that  nation  in  their  hands. 

Most  of  tliose  who  are  managing  and  moving 
all  this  great  amount  of  property,  are  men  in 
the  morning  and  vigor  of  life.     Youth  can  not 
do  it.     Age  stoops  under  the  burden,  and  with- 
draws.    The  load  is  too  heavy.     Your  business 
men  must  have  great  bodily  vigor,  great  strength 
of  constitution,  incessant  application,  and  untir- 
ing labor.     It  is  noticed  that  in  a  time  of  inva- 
sion and  war,  no  men  make  such  soldiers  as 
business  men.     This  is  not  because  they  have  so 
much  to  defend — the  retired,  timid  rich  men 
have  the  property  to  defend — ^but  it  is  because 
they  have  the  habits  of  activity  and  energy  that 
make  them  powerful  anywhere.     Your  man  of 
business,  with  his  pale  forehead   and  anxious 
look,  has  often  a  wiry  frame  and  a  body  which 
can  evince  great  endurance,  else   it  had  long 
since  broken  down.     The  load  is  so  heavy  that 
multitudes  do  break  down,  fail  in  business,  be- 
cause they  first  failed  in  body,  then  in  energy, 
and  then  in  judgment.     ISTo  class  of  men  work 
harder,  as  a  class ;  none  strive  harder  to  bear 
up  and  carry  their  burdens  manfully,  than  these 
men ;  and  often  the  intellect  is  taxed  to  an  ex- 
tent of  which  few  dream. 


10  MEN  OF  business: 

IV.  The  business  men  of  a  nation  must  have  a 
vast  amount  of  intelligence^  and  hence  they  are 
an  important  class. 

We  do  not  pretend  that  tliese  men — eacli  one 
— ^knows  mucli,  except  tlie  particular  "brancli  to 
wMcb.  lie  is  confined.  But  let  any  one  go  into 
tlie  office  where  the  patterns  for  a  great  machine- 
shop  are  drawn  out  of  the  brain ;  let  him  go 
through  the  plottings  and  calculations  necessary 
to  build  a  railroad  or  to  build  one  great  ship  ; 
let  him  sit  down  and  study  the  markets  thou- 
sands of  miles  off,  and  calculate  whether  he  can 
deal  with  one  of  each  country,  and  a  dozen  in  all ; 
let  him  plan  what  fabrics  will  be  wanted  two 
years  hence  in  a  distant  land,  and  how  he  can 
collect  materials  and  manufacture  those  fabrics ; 
let  him  calculate  the  chances  and  prospects  of 
war  or  peace  in  this  and  in  that  part  of  the 
earth ;  let  him  study  how  to  improve  this  ma- 
chinery, obtain  a  few  more  revolutions  of  a 
wheel  in  a  minute,  how  to  compete  with  men 
who  have  great  capital  and  skill  and  facilities  ; 
in  a  word,  let  the  man  whp  thinks  that  the  men 
of  business  have  not  a  vast  amount  of  intelli- 
gence, watch  them  as  they  roll  the  wealth  of 
the  earth  from  one  quarter  to  another ;  as  they 
change  a  dreary  sand-plain  into  a  great  city ; 


POSITIOIS',    INFLUENCE,  AND   DUTIES.  11 

as  they  make  tlie  air  and  tlie  water,  tlie  streams, 
tlie  lakes,  tlie  forests,  tke  ocean,  tlie  winds,  and 
the  very  lightnings,  work  in  their  behalf,  and 
he  will  see  that  there  is,  and  must  be,  a  great 
amount  of  intelligence  in  this  class  of  men.  I 
have  sometimes  felt  almost  indignant  when  I 
have  heard  the  success  of  men  attributed  to 
luck  and  chance,  and  the  intelligence  of  this  class 
denied.  Their  success  depends,  first,  on  God, 
and  then  on  the  intelligence,  skill,  thought, 
judgment,  activity,  and  labor  which  they  bestow 
on  their  business ;  and  he  must  be  very  weak 
or  very  jealous  who  denies  a  great  amount  of 
intelligence  to  our  business  men. 

It  follows  that  this  class  of  men  have,  and 
must  have,  a  prodigious  influence  upon  human 
society.  They  make  or  unmake  a  nation.  The 
professional  men  are  few  in  number,  compared 
with  the  men  of  business.  They  have  in  their 
hands  but  little  property.  They  move  but  lit- 
tle. Their  influence  is  of  another  kind.  But 
upon  the  men  of  business  hangs  the  question  of 
plenty  or  want,  activity  or  stagnation,  hope  or 
despair.  Men  must  look  to  them.  Labor  looks 
to  them  for  employment,  for  direction,  and  for 
reward.  Poverty  looks  to  them  to  feed  the 
hungry.     Our  schools  and  colleges,  and  all  that 


12  MEN  OF  business: 

pertains  to  tlie  education  of  tlie  nation,  tlie  ele- 
vation of  the  human  mind,  must  look  to  them 
for  the  pecuniary  means.  The  ministry  can 
furnish  teachers  for  the  young,  but  we  have  not 
money,  and  must  come  to  you  for  that  to  endow 
our  institutions  of  education.  The  ministry 
must  call  upon  you  to  build  our  churches,  and 
support  us  while  we  labor  for  the  elevation  of 
society,  and  the  conversion  of  the  soul  to  Christ. 
You  have  the  wealth,  and  we  must  call  upon 
you  to  aid  us,  and  to  furnish  means,  while  we 
explore  the  earth,  circulate  the  Bible,  and  show 
you  how  you  may  here  and  there  use  your 
means  for  the  best  good  of  men.  There  is  not 
a  college  in  this  land,  nor  an  institution  of  learn- 
ing, which  has  not  been  created  and  endowed, 
directly  or  indirectly,  by  men  of  business.  The 
clergymen,  the  lawyers,  the  physicians,  as  classes, 
have  little  wealth.  They  are  exceptions  if  they 
have,  and  must  get  it,  if  they  have  it,  aside  from 
their  profession.  "We  labor,  cooperate  with 
those  who  do  the  business  of  the  earth  ;  but  we 
must  come  to  them  to  furnish  the  means  and 
the  appliances  of  usefulness.  A  village  store 
has  been  known  to  have  the  circulating  wealth, 
and  therefore  the  power  to  control  the  political 
elections  of  the  village  for  years.     Such  a  store 


POSITION,   INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  18 

has  been  known  to  do  more  to  demoralize  a  small 
town  than  all  other  things  ;  and  having  all  this 
power  and  influence,  is  there  any  danger  of  my 
over-estimating  the  importance  of  having  our 
business  men  understand  their  position,  their 
influence  for  good  or  for  evil,  upon  the  great 
interests  of  humanity,  here  and  hereafter  ? 

It  is  hardly  possible,  as  it  seems  to  me,  to 
over-estimate  the  responsibility  which  the  pro- 
vidence of  God  has  laid  upon  this  class.  They 
owe  peculiar  duties  to  themselves,  to  their 
families,  to  those  employed  by  them,  to  society 
at  large,  and  to  God,  the  Father  of  all.     And, 

I.  They  ought  to  he  men  of  the  sternest  integ- 
rity and  Iwnesty. 

No  young  man  ought  to  look  forward  to  a 
life  of  business,  if  he  is  conscious  that  it  is  hard 
for  him  to  be  honest  in  the  smallest  matters. 
If  he  would  defraud  his  sisters  or  brothers,  if  he 
would  take  more  than  his  share  in  a  division,  if 
he  ever  conceals  what  falls  in  his  way  without 
actually  steahng  it  at  the  time,  he  ought  never 
to  go  into  business.  When  property  is  passing 
through  your  hands  continually,  when  it  is  so 
easy  to  over-charge  here  and  there,  to  clip  a 
little  here  and  there,  to  use  what  is  in  your 
hands  with  the  intention  of   repaying  it,  you 


14  MEN  OF  BusmEss: 

ought  to  be  very  careful  to  be  lionest  to  a  mill. 
As  to  tlie  plea  wMcIl  some  men  make,  that  it  is 
impossible  to  do  business  and  be  strictly  lionest, 
I  must  say  witli  great  frankness,  I  don't  believe 
a  word  of  it.  I  believe  it  is  just  as  practicable 
to  be  lionest  in  using  property,  as  it  is  to  use  tbe 
tongue  without  being  profane.  I  have  known 
men  grow  old  as  merchants  and  as  manufactur- 
ers, who  were,  I  have  no  doubt,  strictly  honest. 
A  single  fall  of  a  clergyman  dishonors  all  the 
profession  ;  and  so  every  dishonest  man  in  busi- 
ness hurts  all  his  compeers.  He  tempts  othej's 
to  meet  him  with  the  same  weapons,  and  to  fight 
him  with  his  own  sword.  He  tempts  the  whole 
class  to  do  so,  and  he  tempts  the  community  to 
look  upon  the  whole  class  with  suspicion.  Bu- 
siness men  have  the  very  best  opportunity  to 
be  dishonest.  They  can  cheat  every  day  of  their 
lives,  and  nobody  can  detect  them.  We  are  all 
in  their  hands,  and  they  may  grind  the  poor, 
and  do  injustice  to  the  ignorant  and  the  unsus- 
pecting, and  we  have  no  redress.  They  can 
manufacture  or  adulterate  or  palm  off  a  poor 
article  for  a  good  one.  By  silence  they  can 
defraud  me.  How  important,  then,  that  in  the 
f(».ar  of  God  they  should  make  it  a  rule  from 
which  they  never  swerve,  that  they  will  be 
strictly  honest  in  all  their  dealings  ! 


POSITIOlSr,   INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  15 

n.  The  man  of  hisiness  cmght  to  he  a  punctual 
man, 

'^o  man  can  succeed  in  business  unless  he  is 
full  up  with  it  as  to  time.  He  must  be  punctual 
not  merely  in  paying  his  debts  and  meeting  his 
notes  on  the  day  they  become  due,  but  the 
liabit  should  run  through  every  thing.  He  must 
see  that  the  ship  sails  on  the  day  and  at  the 
hour  advertised  ;  that  the  goods  are  boxed  and 
delivered  and  forwarded,  not  a  week  later,  but 
at  the  very  time  promised.  A  delay  of  a  day 
may  disappoint  passengers  in  his  ship,  or  it  may 
detain  the  goods  on  their  way  over  a  whole 
season.  The  habit  is  transmitted  to  others,  and 
if  you  are  not  punctual  and  prompt,  those  under 
you  will  not  long  be  so.  The  manufacturer  is 
careful  to  bring  his  help  up  by  the  bell ;  and 
the  merchant  ought  to  insist  upon  it  that  his 
store  be  opened  and  closed  at  just  such  a  time, 
bhat  every  thing  sold  shall  be  delivered  at  once, 
that  bills  shall  be  collected  and  paid  promptly, 
and  that  neither  he  nor  his  customers  shall  su  '- 
fer  for  the  want  of  promptness.  The  loss  of 
time  and  property  by  delay  and  slackness  is  in 
credible.  You  are,  perhaps,  building  a  large 
factory  which  has  been  burned  down.  You 
want  it  covered  with  slate.     You  send  to  the 


16 


quarry  and  inquire  if  you  can  liave  so  many 
slate,  and  at  what  time.  They  reply,  yes,  you 
can  have  them,  and  name  the  day  when  they 
shall  be  forwarded.  You  go  on  and  put  up 
your  frame,  and  get  all  your  carpenters  on 
hand,  but  no  slate  come.  You  write,  but  it 
does  not  bring  them.  You  send  a  special  mes- 
senger all  the  way  to  the  quarry  in  another 
State,  and  he  finds,  that  a  fortnight  after  the 
time  appointed,  the  slate  are  not  shipped,  or 
even  all  out  of  the  quarry  !  And  so  you  have 
the  loss,  and  the  disappointment,  and  the  vexa- 
tion, and  all  because  the  man  who  made  the 
promise  is  not  a  punctual  or  a  prompt  man. 
There  are  ten  thousand  such  cases  occurring 
continually ;  the  loss  in  property,  in  time,  and 
in  character,  is  beyond  computation.  Every 
man  living,  who  deals  with  men,  has  suffered 
more  or  less  in  this  way.  You  might  as  well 
deal  with  a  tailor  who  only  basted  your  coat, 
as  with  such  a  man.  Every  unpunctual  man 
forfeits  his  word,  disappoints  expectation,  and 
brings  reproach  on  his  class.  It  is  most  grievous 
when  professed  Christians  are  thus  slack.  The 
temptation  to  it  is  very  natural.  We  are  weary, 
and  if  we  can  put  off  a  duty,  we  hope  it  will  be 
easier  to-morrow.     It  may  demand  more  of  re- 


POSITION,    INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  17 

solution,  more  of  nerve,  more  of  strengtli,  to  be 
always  vigilant,  always  prompt,  always  active 
and  efficient,  but  you  can  not  succeed  in  busi- 
ness without  all  tbis.  Instead  of  being  surprised 
that  so  many,  who  undertake  business,  should 
break  down,  with  the  strength,  and  hope,  and 
courage  gone,  I  am  rather  surprised  that  there 
are  not  more.  I  have  far  more  charity  for  men 
who  fail  in  business  than  I  used  to  have  before 
I  knew  how  long  and  how  hard  they  struggled 
and  staggered  under  the  load,  and  how  they 
came  out  of  the  contest  for  which  they  were 
never  fitted,  with  shattered  health,  with  loss  of 
self-confidence,  with  hopes  that  are  crushed,  and 
with  the  future  covered  with  clouds.  And  pro- 
bably these  cases  are  far  more  frequent  than 
they  would  be  were  the  books  kept  thoroughly 
and  examined  frequently,  and  the  soundings  and 
offings  of  the  ship  constantly  recorded.  The 
mistake  is  a  great  one,  for  a  man  to  continue  in 
business  when  he  is  not  its  master;  when  he 
finds  that  he  lacks  qualifications  and  adaptation 
to  his  business,  to  struggle  on,  hoping  that  some 
brighter  day  will  come,  without  courage  to  cut 
down  expenses,  or  to  look  truth  in  the  face, 
A  vessel  is  swamped  and  wrecked  amid  the 
storms  of  the  great  ocean,  which  would  have 


18  MEN  OF  business: 

safely  crept  along  tlie  shore  and  coasted  from 
tarbor  to  harbor.  Every  one  can  think  of  men 
who  are  amiable,  and  who  mean  well^  but  who 
would  be  wrecked  were  they  to  command  a 
ship  in  a  gale,  or  grapple  with  all  the  difficulties 
of  commerce  or  of  business,  at  the  time  when 
decision,  promptness,  and  fearless  energy  alone 
can  avail.  The  proper  medium  between  timid- 
ity and  weak  caution,  and  rash  confidence,  is 
the  medium  which  the  man  of  business  needs, 
and  parents  who  are  ambitious  to  have  their 
sons  become  men  of  business,  can  tell  at  an  early 
age  whether  they  evince  those  traits  of  charac- 
ter so  essential  to  success. 

And  here  let  me  say,  that  the  man  of  business 
has  need  of  special  care  in  the  training  of  hi^ 
family.  He  is  under  a  heavy  pressure  as  to 
time,  and  can  hardly  take  time  to  be  economical. 
He  can  have  but  little  opportunity  to  see  his 
own  family.  He  hastens  in  at  meal-time,  anx- 
iously and  hastily  swallows  his  food,  the  care 
and  vexations  of  his  afiairs  perhaps  clouding  his 
face  while  in  the  house.  His  words  are  few  and 
short,  and,  it  may  be,  the  irritation  which  is 
caused  by  the  unfaithfulness  of  others,  is  vented 
upon  his  family.  His  children  see  that  the  father 
has  not  time  to  cultivate  the  social  aifections,  nor 


POSITION,  INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  19 

time  to  attend  to  economy — ^that  lie  had  rather 
hand  them  out  ten  dollars  for  a  new  dress  than 
to  stop  long  enough  to  advise  in  regard  to  one 
that  would  not  cost  half  the  sum;  and  hence 
they  infer  that  economy  is  a  virtue  not  held  in 
high  estimation  by  the  father.  It  naturally 
turns  what  would  be  love  and  the  refinement 
of  the  social  affections,  into  the  channel  of  dress. 
They  see  the  father  handling  a  great  deal  of 
money,  and  do  not  realize  but  it  is  all  his  own ; 
and  hence  come  habits  and  expenses  into  the 
family  which  the  rich  only  can  meet,  while  he 
is  struggling  to  manage  the  capital  passing 
through  his  hands  so  as  to  carry  on  his  business. 
His  family  think  him  rich,  when  he  is  poor. 
They  draw  upon  him  under  a  mistake,  and  he 
meets  the  drafts  because  he  is  too  much  hurried 
to  correct  the  mistake.  His  daughters  are 
tempted  to  want  to  make  up  for  the  desolations 
of  the  home  caused  by  the  inability  of  the 
father  to  cultivate  the  heart  and  the  affections, 
by  showy  furniture,  ostentatious  equipage,  and 
extravagant  dress.  The  sons  are  tempted  to  feel 
that  while  the  father  drudges  early  and  late, 
and  keeps  all  his  business  agoing,  they  can  not 
fail  to  be  rich,  and  they  may  waste  time  or 
property,  or  both.     The  great  temptation  of 


20  MEN  OF  business: 

business  men,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  tlie  attempt 
to  accomplisL.  too  mucli,  to  do  too  much,  and 
thus  to  more  than  exhaust  their  time,  their 
strength,  their  intellect,  and  their  affections. 
They  want  to  get  over  the  point  of  danger,  to 
weather  the  cape  of  poverty,  and  sail  into  the 
straits  of  thrift,  too  quickly.  They  can  not 
wait  for  any  thing  that  moves  slowly.  They 
have  not  time  to  do  justice  to  their  children  in 
their  training.  Hence  it  comes  to  pass,  too 
often,  that  a  business  that  has  become  estab- 
lished and  prospered  by  the  great  and  life-long 
efforts  of  the  father,  instead  of  being  carried  on 
by  the  sons,  passes  into  the  hands  of  the  poor 
boy  who  came  from  the  country  as  a  clerk,  and 
the  property  which  was  earned  by  such  untiring 
efforts,  is  spent  before  it  was  fairly  owned,  and 
the  sons  and  daughters  who,  a  few  years  ago, 
seemed  to  be  on  the  top  of  fortune's  wheel,  are 
cast  down  out  of  sight.  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  point  of  failure  is  in  the  fact  that  the  man 
tries  to  accomplish  so  much  business,  so  that  he 
must  be  absent  much,  be  hurrying  all  over  the 
earth  in  a  chase  that  has  no  termination,  and  in 
gathering  in  only  that  he  may  scatter  still  wider ; 
so  that  he  unconsciously  neglects  his  family,  and 
unintentionally  teaches  them  to  despise  economy 


INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  21 

— ^not  because  he  despises  it,  but  because  lie  lias 
not  time  to  teacli  them  economy.  Whereas  the 
children  of  business  men  ought  to  have  the  best 
possible  training,  and  then  those  noble  and  shin- 
ing characters  which  sometimes  arise  from  this 
class  of  society,  would  become  common,  and, 
being  common,  would  be  great  blessings  to  the 
world. 

III.  Business  men  should  learn  the  true  use 
of  property. 

There  are  three  uses  to  which  money  can  be 
put :  first,  to  hoard  or  use  it  in  business  for  the 
sake  of  its  increase ;  the  second  is,  to  spend  it 
upon  ourselves  or  our  families ;  and  the  third 
is,  to  use  it  for  the  good  of  our  fellow  men. 
Formerly,  when  the  channels  for  business  were 
few,  men  were  tempted  to  hoard  it,  to  bury  it, 
or  to  put  it  away  where  it  would  be  safe,  and 
yet  be  on  the  increase.  The  temptation  at  this 
day  is  not  so  much  in  that  line  as  to  gather  it 
fast  and  spend  it  fast.  The  struggle  is  to  see 
who  will  live  in  the  best  style,  make  the  most 
show,  excite  the  most  envy,  attract  the  most 
eyes,  and  be  foremost  in  the  race.  Every  new 
house  must  be  costlier  and  better  than  the  last 
built,  and  every  returning  season,  fashion  must 


22  MEN  OF  business: 

invent  sometliing  more  costly  tlian  the  season 
preceding.  Hence  tlie  race  is  more  eager  and 
more  costly.  And  let  me  say  in  all  sincerity, 
tliat  I  do  not  believe  tliere  is  a  people  on  tlie 
face  of  the  earth  who  are  so  extravagant  in  their 
expenditures  as  the  American  people.  It  seems 
to  be  in  the  place  of  nobility,  of  old  family 
pride,  and  of  intellectual  and  moral  worth. 
But  I  think  that  our  business  men  are  beginning 
to  learn  the  true  use  of  money.  They  are  begin- 
ning to  understand  that  he  who  digs  a  well,  like 
Jacob,  which  will  gush  up  with  fresh  water  for 
ages,  has  done  a  good  and  a  great  deed ;  that 
he  who  has  used  his  money  to  found  a  school 
where  the  little  feet  of  children  will  gather, 
and  the  hum  of  young  voices  be  heard,  ages 
after  he  is  dead,  has  done  a  good  and  a  great  act ; 
that  he  who  founds  a  professorship  in  a  college 
will  have  an  educated  and  a  polished  mind  there 
instructing  young  men  generations  hence  ;  that 
he  who  uses  his  money  to  stereotype  and  pubhsh 
a  good  book,  has  opened  a  well  that  will  send 
forth  the  waters  of  life  as  long  as  time  shall  be  ; 
that  he  who  provides  an  asylum  for  the  blind, 
the  deaf,  or  the  deranged,  will  be  ministering 
directly  to  alleviate  the  woes  of  humanity  in  all 
future  time  ;  that  he  who  with  his  money  plants 


POSITION,   INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  23 

a  little  churcli  among  the  heathen,  or  opens  a 
school  there,  or  who  circulates  the  Bible  in  a 
new  dialect,  is  opening  a  fountain  never  again 
to  dry  up.  We  must  have  school-houses  and 
school-books  ;  we  must  have  colleges  and  semi- 
naries, libraries  and  apparatus,  and  all  the  appli- 
ances for  educating  the  human  mind  ;  we  must 
have  churches  and  ministers,  and  all  the  moral 
appliances  for  educating  the  conscience  and  the 
heart.  And  to  whom  has  God,  in  his  wisdom 
and  providence,  committed  the  wealth  of  the 
earth  ?  To  whom  shall  we  go,  when  we  want 
the  means  of  alleviating  or  preventing  the  woes 
of  the  human  family  ?  We  can  go  nowhere 
else,  but  to  the  men  who  own  and  who  are 
handling  the  wealth  of  the  globe.  And  when 
these  men  feel  that  we  call  upon  them  often, 
and  want  large  sums,  too,  let  them  remember 
that  we  go  to  them  because  they  alone  have  the 
means  ;  that  it  is  easier  for  them  to  earn  money 
than  for  any  other  class — ^indeed,  no  other  class 
can  earn  it.  It  is  therefore  unquestionably  true, 
that  we  must  and  shall  bring  the  wants  of  our 
schools,  and  colleges,  and  asylums,  and  semi- 
naries, and  ask  these  men  for  the  means  to  make 
these  fountains  of  good  to  men.  It  is  also  un- 
doubtedly true  that  we  must  depend  very  much 


24  MEN  OF  business: 

on  tliese  men  for  the  means  of  carrying  the 
Gospel  to  the  heathen.  We  own,  too,  that  the 
support  of  the  ministry  must  rest  very  much  on 
them.  They  are  the  financial  agents  of  com- 
merce, of  manufactures,  of  agriculture,  of  edu- 
cation, of  occasional  and  systematic  charity. 
The  business  of  the  world  and  the  charities  of 
the  world  depend  on  them.  They  will  not 
deny  that  their  position  is  that  of  trustees  for 
humanity,  nor  must  they  blink  the  fact  that 
they  are  deeply  responsible  for  this  trusteeship. 
May  I  not  say,  also,  we  can  scarcely  estimate 
the  importance  of  having  the  business  men  of 
the  world  a  pure,  elevated,  intelligent  class  of 
men ;  expansive  in  their  views,  honorable  in  all 
their  transactions,  noble  and  great-hearted  in 
their  charities  ?  It  is  not  the  place  for  a  dis- 
honest man;  it  is  not  the  place  for  the  small- 
minded  man ;  it  is  not  the  place  for  the  reck- 
less man ;  it  is  not  the  place  for  the  narrow- 
minded  man.  Every  thing  about  the  man  of 
business  should  be  above-board.  In  their  place, 
the  physicians  of  a  Christian  land  are  a  most 
valuable,  important,  and  indispensable  class  of 
men.  Our  comfort,  our  life  often  hangs  upon 
their  judgment  and  skill.  But  they  move  in  a 
particular  circle,  and  money  is  not  their  instru- 


POSITION,    INFLUENCE,  AND   DUTIES.  25 

ment  of  usefulness.  I  can  not  speak  too  tigMy 
of  the  sacrifice  and  tlie  toil  wMcli  this  profes- 
sion often  makes,  not  only  without  reward,  but 
without  even  the  hope  of  a  reward.  In  their 
place,  the  lawyers  of  a  Christian  land  are  not 
useful  merely,  but  absolutely  essential,  and  a 
sound,  conscientious  lawyer  is  a  character  not 
to  be  admired  merely,  but  a  character  of 
great  beauty.  The  profession  is  an  ornament 
to  civilized  and  Christianized  society.  They  are 
a  moral  and  intellectual  police,  and  the  insurers 
of  Justice  between  man  and  man.  But  their 
sphere  is  peculiar,  and  they  can  do  but  one 
thing. 

While  they  have,  rightly,  great  influence, 
money  is  not  the  power  they  wield.  As  law 
and  justice  are  the  foundations  of  governments, 
we  naturally  look  to  this  profession  to  make 
the  laws  of  the  nation,  and  mostly  to  manage 
the  machinery  of  government.  The  money 
power  of  the  world  is  committed  to  one  class  of 
men.  I  have  sometimes  heard  it  asserted  that 
it  is  mere  accident  and  chance  that  one  man 
makes  money  while  his  neighbor  can  not.  But 
I  know  better.  It  is  a  talent.  The  Bible  calls 
it  a  '•'- power P  "  Thou  shalt  remember  the  Lord 
thy  Grod  ;  for  it  is  he  that  giveth  thee  power  to 


26  me:n-  OF  business: 

get  wealth."  A  peculiar  talent  is  necessary,  just 
as  a  peculiar  talent  is  necessary  for  a  profession. 
Tlie  Christian  ministry  must  have  a  particular 
talent  and  a  particular  call  to  their  position,  and 
the  ministry  wields  a  prodigious  power,  though 
fewest  in  number,  by  far,  of  all  the  professions. 
Their  commission  is  from  Christ,  and  we  estimate 
its  importance  by  his  estimation  when  he  gave 
gifts  to  men,  and  by  the  good  they  accomplish. 
But  they  have  not  the  money  power.  They 
live  upon  what  you  choose  to  give  them,  are 
honored  as  you  choose  to  esteem  them,  and  they 
cheerfully  live  and  die  for  you.  Now  is  it  not 
clear  that  God,  in  his  great  wisdom,  has  raised 
up  a  class  of  men,  scattered  all  over  the  earth, 
to  attend  to  its  financial  concerns,  and  to  trans- 
act the  business  to  be  done  ?  They  can  not  be 
called  a  profession,  for  there  is  no  one  branch 
of  knowledge  which  they  profess  to  know  ;  but 
they  are  a  class,  and  they  wield  the  quickest 
power  which  men  wield,  and  one  far-reaching. 
They  embrace  much,  very  much,  of  the  talent, 
the  strength  of  mind,  the  mechanical  skill  of  the 
world ;  and  they  have  an  amount  of  energy,  and 
living  energy,  to  be  found  nowhere  else.  The 
news,  the  intelligence  communicated,  and  the 
comforts  and  luxuries  of  life,  depend  on  them. 


POSITION,    INFLUENCE,  AND   DUTIES.  27 

If  a  scholar  invents  the  telegraph,  the  business 
man  must  carry  the  wires  round  the  globe  ;  if  a 
scholar  writes  a  book,  the  man  of  business  must 
print  it,  and  see  that  it  is  circulated  all  over  the 
land.  If  a  great  thought  rises  up  in  the  mind 
of  the  scholar,  the  business  man  must  put  it  in 
material  shape,  and  send  it  forth  for  the  use  of 
all.  He  is  the  universal  architect,  creating  all 
the  material  enjoyments  which  men  have.  Let 
him  remember  that  he  has  this  high  position, 
that  he  may  have  resting  on  him  great  responsi- 
bilities. Let  him  remember  that  God  charges 
him  to  beware  and  "  forget  not  the  Lord  God,  in 
not  keeping  his  commandments,  and  his  judg- 
ments, and  his  statutes,  lest  when  he  has  eaten 
and  is  full,  and  has  builded  goodly  houses  and 
dwelt  therein,  and  when  his  herds  and  his  flocks 
multiply,  and  his  silver  and  his  gold  is  multi- 
plied, then  his  heart  be  lifted  up,  and  he  forget 
the  Lord  his  God,  and  say  in  his  heart.  My 
power  and  the  might  of  my  hand  hath  gotten 
me  this  wealth.  But  let  him  remember  the 
Lord  his  God,  for  it  is  he  that  giveth  him  power 
to  get  wealth." 

But  in  looking  at  the  responsibilities  of  busi- 
ness men,  in  the  light  of  the  Gospel — to  do 
good  to  all  men  according  to  their  opportunity — 


28  MEN  OF  business: 

there  comes  up  the  very  important  question, 
What  duties  do  they  owe  to  those  whom  they 
employ  ?  And  it  must  be  allowed  that  the 
relation  between  the  employer  and  the  em- 
ployee, is  a  very  important  one.  The  man  who 
has  the  power  to  plan  and  also  to  execute,  is  a 
decided  business  man.  But  for  the  most  part, 
the  departments  are  separated.  The  man  who 
carries  on  any  business  must  have  others  to 
carry  out  his  plans.  He  must  contrive,  others 
must  execute.  The  general  must  plan  the  battle, 
the  soldiers  must  carry  his  plan  into  execution. 
It  is  mind  using  matter ;  the  brain  employing 
muscle  and  sinew.  It  was  estimated  that  the 
mind  of  Bonaparte  was  equal  in  battle  to  forty 
thousand  men.  The  skill  and  mind  of  the  manu- 
facturer or  the  merchant  are  often  worth  more 
than  the  labor  of  all  whom  he  employs.  He 
must  take  the  responsibility,  and  do  all  the 
planning.  Hence  he  advertises  for  liands^  not 
heads — ^for  manual  labor,  and  not  mental. 

The  imperfection  of  our  state  is  seen  in  the 
fact,  that  exact  justice  is  impossible  among  men, 
however  we  may  desire  and  intend  it.  You 
may  employ  twenty  men  to  work  for  you,  and 
when  you  pay  them  all  an  equal  sum,  you  are 
sure  that  some  have  earned  more  than  others. 


POSITION,  INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  29 

and  their  labor  was  worth  more.  But  the  risk 
of  their  being  good  or  bad  workmen  you 
assumed  when  you  hired  them. 

Now,  were  the  thing  possible^  strict  justice 
would  require  something  like  the  following: 
We  will  suppose  you  are  proposing  to  erect  a 
factory,  which  is  to  employ  say  one  hundred 
men.  Could  it  be  done,  let  the  hundred  men 
put  in  an  equal  amount  of  money,  of  skill,  of 
labor,  and  then  equally  share  the  profits  or  the 
losses.  But  the  trouble  is,  when  you  assemble 
the  hundred  men,  it  is  found  that  ninety-nine 
have  no  capital  to  put  in.  They  are  poor,  and 
can  only  put  in  their  labor.  But  here  is  another 
difficulty :  they  are  poor,  and  can  not  wait 
through  the  year  for  the  dividends — ^they  must 
live  from  day  to  day.  And  another  difficulty 
still :  there  will  be  some  years  when  there  is  no 
dividend  to  be  made — ^when  the  factory  must 
run,  possibly,  at  a  loss,  and  the  ninety  and  nine 
are  now  in  distress.  So  that  it  is  wholly  imprac- 
ticable to  form  such  a  partnership.  The  same 
is  true  of  the  merchant,  the  shipper,  and  of  all 
kinds  of  business.  But  among  the  hundred  men 
assembled,  there  is  found  one  who  has  uncom- 
mon energy,  a  balanced,  calculating  head,  un- 
tiring perseverance,    and  capital  in    addition. 


•^>0  MEN  OF  business: 

He  now  proj)oses  to  build  a  factory,  furnish  the 
capital,  manage  the  whole  concern,  run  all  the 
risks,  pocket  all  the  gains  or  losses.  The  ninety 
and  nine  shall  be  spared  all  this  ;  and  instead 
of  dividing  the  loss  and  gain  with  them,  he 
proposes  to  give  them  so  much  wages,  pay  them 
^veekly  or  monthly,  and  make  these  wages  sure. 
Whether  the  concern  is  making  or  losing,  they 
run  no  risks.  It  seems  plain  to  me  that  this  is 
the  foundation,  or,  as  we  say,  the  philosophy  of 
the  relation  of  the  employer  and  the  employee. 
It  is  a  state  growing  out  of  the  unequal  condi- 
tion of  things  in  this  world.  It  brings  the  two 
parties  together,  mutually  dependent  on  each 
other,  and  creating  reciprocal  duties  and  obliga- 
tions. It  is  a  state  of  things  under  the  wise 
appointment  of  our  heavenly  Father.  Many 
schemes  have  been  formed  to  make  the  condi- 
tion of  all  equal ;  and  there  have  been  societies 
formed  and  organizations  instituted,  designed 
expressly  to  do  away  with  the  relation  of  master 
and  servant,  employer  and  employee.  Vain 
attempt  !  The  experiments  are  all  failures. 
Complaints  are  often  loud  that  the  employer  is 
unmerciful ;  that  he  makes  the  poor  seamstress 
sew  a  whole  shirt  for  a  few  cents,  when  he  ought 
to  pay  so  many  shillings.     You  forget  that  it  is 


POSITION,   INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  31 

not  the  employer  who  regulates  the  price,  but 
it  is,  that  the  number  of  poor  females  who  crowd 
into  the  city  is  so  great,  and  the  demand  for 
employment  so  urgent,  that  they  fix  the  price. 
Let  three  fourths  of  these  starving  women  go 
into  the  country,  where  there  is  food  enough  and 
work  enough,  and  the  price  of  making  a  shirt 
would  soon  go  uj).  It  would  be  the  same  thing 
to  the  employer.  He  had  as  lief  pay  a  high 
price  as  a  low  one,  provided  others  had  to  do 
so.  He  has  only  to  charge  higher  for  his  shirt 
when  sold.  It  is  the  number  of  people  that 
want  employment  that  fixes  the  price  of  labor. 
If  twenty  will  work  for  A  at  low  wages  rather 
than  not  have  employment,  it  is  plain  that  B 
can  not  afford  to  pay  more  ;  and  the  employer 
is  sometimes  blamed  severely,  because,  as  it  is 
said,  he  cuts  wages  down  so  low,  when  in  fact 
it  is  the  number  who  want  employment  who 
regulate  the  wages. 

In  all  countries,  the  majority  of  those  who  do  ^ 
the  manual  labor  are  poor.  They  live  on  their 
present  income.  They  are  often  deficient  in  ex- 
perience, in  skill,  in  mental  endowments,  in  self- 
reliance,  in  energy,  in  capital,  and,  in  a  word, 
they  have  no  business  capacity.  It  may  not  be 
their  fault.     It  may  be  the  want  of  education 


32  MEN  OF  business: 

and  early  training.  It  may  be  tlie  combination 
of  circumstances  wMch  they  could  not  resist  or 
break  tlirougb.  It  may  be  plainly  the  leadings 
and  dealings  of  Providence  that  has  made  them 
what  they  are,  as  it  is  his  dealings  and  leadings 
that  make  the  employer  what  he  is.  The  same 
wisdom  that  gives  the  different  color  and  shape 
and  value  to  the  tree  or  to  the  plants  that 
grow  in  the  field,  has  caused  this  diversity  in 
the  capacity  and  allotments  of  men. 

The  great  fact  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that 
the  dependence  between  the  employer  and  the 
employed  is  mutual.  If  the  one  is  dependent  on 
ihe  other  for  daily  bread,  for  prompt  and  fre- 
quent payments,  he  is  equally  dependent  on  their 
industry,  their  faithfulness,  for  the  advancement 
of  his  plans  and  his  prosperity.  It  is  very  plain, 
from  the  bare  statement  of  the  relation,  that  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  employer  to  pay  his  workmen 
frequently  and  promptly.  In  Bible  times,  before 
factories  and  commerce  had  become  known,  and 
when  labor  was  mostly  confined  to  agriculture, 
we  are  especially  instructed  that  "  the  hire  of 
the  laborers  who  have  reaped  down  your  fields, 
which  is  of  you  kept  back  by  fraud,  crieth ; 
and  the  cries  of  them  which  have  reaped  are 
entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth." 


POSITION,   INFLUEKCE,  AND    DUTIES.  33 

A  poor  man  stands  none  too  good  a  chance  of 
getting  tlie  best  article,  even  if  lie  lias  the 
money  in  his  hand ;  and  if  he  has  to  buy  on 
credit,  he  must  pay  dear  indeed.  It  is  not  the 
rich  who  eat  the  poorest  flour,  the  poorest  meat, 
or  fish.  The  riches  of  the  wealthy  are  his  cas- 
tle, and  none  dare  attack  the  castle.  The  poor 
man  has  no  such  castle.  The  skill  and  shrewd- 
ness which  enable  the  rich  man  to  gain  his 
property,  will  prevent  his  being  cheated  in  his 
daily  purchases.  The  poor  man  may  have  no 
such  shrewdness ;  and  if  you  take  away  his 
power  of  paying  ready  money,  you  have  proba- 
bly enhanced  his  expenses  equal  to  taking  off 
fifteen  per  cent,  of  his  wages.  I  am  afraid  that 
employers  do  not  always  realize  how  much  sor- 
row and  even  misery  often  grow  out  of  their 
neglecting  to  pay  the  poor  laborer  as  soon  as 
his  work  is  done.  It  is  simple  justice  to  do  this, 
and  if  you  do  it  at  a  personal  inconvenience,  it 
probably  will  be  far  less  than  that  which  you 
make  him  feel  if  you  do  not.  The  laborer  may 
have  a  family  at  home  who  are  suffering  for 
food,  or  for  clothing,  or  for  medicine.  He  may 
have  sickness  and  sorrowing  hearts  there,  whose 
woes  will  be  increased  if  the  head  of  the  family 
can  not  bring  home  his  honest  earnings.     It 


34  MEN  OF  business: 

may  not  be  this  man  or  tliat  man,  but  among 
fifty  workmen  probably  some  one  or  more  will 
be  in  this  condition.  The  employer  may  go  to 
his  full  home,  where  want  is  unknown,  and  for- 
get all  this  ;  but  a  great  injustice  is  inflicted  if 
he  does  so. 

We  are  aware  that  the  duties  owed  to  the 
employees  are  dependent  somewhat  upon  the 
business  done ;  that  the  duties  towards  clerks 
and  apprentices,  day-laborers,  operatives  in  the 
factory,  and  sailors  on  the  ocean,  are  different, 
and  that  the  variety  of  position  is  almost  end- 
less, and  therefore  it  is  that  there  is  so  much 
need  of  having  the  conscience  enlightened  and 
awake  on  this  subject.  A  large  class  of  young 
men  are  clerks  and  apprentices — ^inferior  to  the 
master,  it  may  be,  only  in  age,  experience  and 
capital.  They  may  have,  and,  as  a  class,  must 
have,  the  elements  of  strong  men  in  them.  They 
are  soon  to  be  the  business  men  of  the  age ;  and 
their  treatment  and  training  ought  to  be  such 
that  they  may  be  led  into  paths  of  industry, 
knowledge,  virtue,  and  religion.  The  difference 
between  training  up  an  honest  and  a  dishonest 
man,  a  good  character  and  a  bad  one,  is  im- 
mense. These  young  men  are  taken  from  their 
homes  and  placed  under  your    care,  to  train 


POSITION,   INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  35 

them,  to  form  their  characters,  and  to  make 
them  men.  They  are  followed  by  the  anxieties, 
the  tears,  and  the  prayers  of  their  parents  and 
friends.  To  see  that  they  serve  you  during  the 
hours  of  business  punctually,  and  to  pay  them 
their  small  stipend,  is  not  enough.  These  young 
men  are  exposed  to  temptations,  to  bad  asso- 
ciates, to  extravagance,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
to  dishonesty.  They  walk  over  pitfalls  contin- 
ually. How  easy  to  teach  them  to  be  dishonest, 
slippery,  tricky,  and  untruthful !  "  Why  did 
not  the  lady  who  has  just  left  the  shop  take 
those  goods  V  said  a  Boston  merchant  to  his 
clerk,  a  few  years  ago.  "  Because,  sir,  she 
wanted  Middlesex  cloths."  "  And  why  did  you 
not  show  her  the  next  pile,  and  call  them  Mid- 
dlesex V  "  Because,  sir,  I  knew  they  were  not 
Middlesex."  "  Young  man  !  if  you  are  so  par- 
ticular, and  can't  bend  a  little  to  circum- 
stances, you  will  never  do  for  me."  "  Very  well, 
sir ;  if  I  must  tell  falsehoods  in  order  to  keej) 
my  place,  I  must  lose  it,  though  I  know  not 
where  to  go  or  what  to  do."  He  took  his  hat 
and  coat,  and  left ;  and  this  took  place  in  the 
presence  of  all  the  clerks.  The  rest  now  knew 
the  conditions  were,  that  they  must  lie  whenever 
their  employer  could  gain  a  sixpence  by  it.     Is 


36  MEN  OF  business: 

such,  a  man  a  safe  man  to  form  future  merchants  ? 
And  is  lie  a  solitary  exception,  or  is  lie  the 
representative  of  a  large  class  ?  That  young 
man,  thus  summarily  dismissed,  is  now  one  of  the 
first  merchants  in  the  West,  one  of  the  first  men 
in  his  region,  and  one  of  the  most  useful  men  in 
all  that  vicinity.  If  a  man  teaches  his  clerk  or 
apprentice  that  he  may  lie  for  his  convenience, 
the  young  man  will  soon  learn  to  do  it  for  his 
own.  If  he  is  trained  up  to  be  a  deceiver  and 
a  sharper,  he  will  be  oi^e  as  long  as  he  lives. 
Perhaps  one  of  the  most  difficult  positions,  as  to 
duty,  is  occupied  by  the  man  who  has  a  large 
number  of  young  men  in  his  employment.  He 
can  shape  their  character  and  destiny  for  this 
world  and  the  next.  To  instruct  them  how  to 
handle  goods  or  tools,  how  to  judge  of  qualities, 
liow  to  keep  accounts,  is  not  enough.  There  is 
a  great  deal  to  be  done  to  keep  them  from 
temptation.  The  places  where  young  men  are 
poisoned  and  ruined  are,  the  theatre,  the  oyster 
saloon,  the  livery  stable,  the  nine-pine  alley,  the 
drinking  club,  and  the  violation  of  the  Sabbath. 
Any  one  of  these  will  most  assuredly  ruin  the 
young  man.  The  expense  is  such  that  he  must 
be  dishonest  and  rob  his  employer,  or  he  must 
over-charge  and  rob  his  customers — sometimes 


POSITION,    INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  37 

both.  Then  lie  associates  with  those  who  are 
adroit  teachers  in  the  ways  of  sin.  How  to 
prevent  young  men  from  going  to  these  places 
of  temptation,  is  a  great  question.  I  have  known 
more  than  one  firm  require  each  young  man,  on 
entering  their  employment,  to  give  a  written 
pledge  that  he  would  use  no  strong  drinks,  that 
he  would  never  visit  an  oyster  shop,  nor  the 
ten-pin  alley,  nor  the  theatre,  nor  the  livery 
stable,  on  the  Sabbath,  and  that  he  would 
attend  church  twice  on  the  Sabbath.  These 
conditions  were  imperative,  and  instant  dismis- 
sion followed  their  violation.  And  after  careful 
observation,  I  can  testify  that  these  firms  never 
had  any  difficulty  in  obtaining  as  many  young 
men  as  they  wanted ;  that  these  rules  were  almost 
uniformly  observed,  but  that  when  a  young  man 
violated  them  and  broke  his  promise,  and  was 
dismissed,  he  uniformly  turned  out  badly.  If 
there  is  not  moral  character  enough  in  a  young 
man  to  submit  to  such  requirements  cheerfully, 
there  is  not  enough  to  build  upon  and  make  a 
valuable  character.  While  I  would  make  such 
requirements  absolute,  and  hold  the  young  man 
firmly  to  his  promise,  I  would  do  more.  I  would 
pay  him  a  premium  for  excellence.  I  know  of 
one  firm  who  pay  their  employees  punctually 


38  MEN    OF    BUSINESS  : 

the  stipulated  wages,  and  at  tlie  end  of  tlie  year 
give  premiums  to  those  who  have  cheerfully 
done  their  best,  from  $25  to  $50  each ;  and 
they  tell  me  the  case  is  very  rare  in  which  they 
do  not  pay  the  premium  and  are  gainers  by  it. 
The  few  hundred  dollars  thus  spent  are  more 
than  saved  in  making  the  young  men  careful, 
saving,  prompt,  and  vigilant.  All  men  are  dis- 
couraged by  hearing  only  orders,  complaints, 
and  corrections.  They  want  approbation,  appre- 
ciation of  what  they  do,  and  reward  in  some 
shape  or  other.  Do  we  not  all  recall  times 
when  an  encouraging  word  or  a  few  remarks  of 
approbation  have  cheered  us  and  encouraged  us 
to  do  well  in  future  ?  The  stern  commander  of 
a  war-ship,  who  never  speaks  but  to  find  faulty 
is  feared  and  detested ;  while  he  who  at  times 
expresses  approbation,  and  says  that  this  or  that 
is  done  just  as  he  likes,  will  have  a  thousand 
opportunities  afforded  him  when  he  can  thus 
express  approbation. 

I  can  not  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  men- 
tioning here  what  I  may  call  a  model  village. 
It  was  a  wild  spot  where  three  brothers  com- 
menced a  small  mechanical  manufactory.  It 
was  far  one  side,  and  out  of  the  way.  From  the 
first,  they  made  it  a  condition  with  their  work- 


POSITION,   INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  89 

men,  that  they  should  attend  church  every  Sal> 
bath ;  that  they  should  lay  up  a  part  of  their 
wages ;  that  they  should  use  no  strong  drinks, 
and  the  like.  They  have  now  between  three  and 
four  hundred  men  in  their  employment,  most  of 
whom  have  families;  for  when  a  workman 
wished  to  build  himself  a  house,  he  was  aided 
and  encouraged  to  gain  and  own  it  in  fee  simple. 
The  firm  have  established  a  reading-room  for 
their  workmen,  at  an  expense  of  about  $400 
annually  ;  have  built  and  support  a  high  school, 
at  a  still  larger  outlay.  The  result  is,  that  many 
of  their  workmen  have  been  with  them  for 
years — some  for  thirty  years  ;  they  are  owners 
of  property ;  they  are  intelligent — one  of  the 
most  appreciating  audiences  I  ever  had  the 
honor  of  addressing  ;  and  for  a  model  village,  I 
do  not  know  its  equal  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
We  may  say  that  here  was  a  peculiar  opportu- 
nity to  set  out  right  and  to  keep  things  right : 
and  so  there  was,  but  it  was  rightly  improved  ; 
and  many  a  village  has  been  started  and  grown 
up  in  similar  circumstances,  where  now  the  Sab- 
bath is  desecrated ;  where  few  go  to  church ; 
where  spirit-shops  are  abounding ;  where  there 
are  poor,  dilapidated,  and  decaying  houses,  and 
where  the  marks  of  ruin  are  visible  on  many  a 


40  MEN  OF  business: 

human  habitation.  If  the  employers  through 
the  land,  and  through  the  world,  felt  equal  re- 
sponsibility for  their  employees,  and  as  judi- 
ciously set  themselves  to  aid  them,  the  whole 
face  of  the  world  would  be  changed  within 
thirty  years.  The  forging,  the  purloining  of 
money,  the  breaking  open  of  letters,  the  petty 
thefts  of  men  while  young,  and  their  stupendous 
frauds  when  older  in  years,  which  now  ring  and 
echo  all  over  the  earth,  would  be  unknown.  No 
employer  has  a  right  to  the  time  and  strength 
of  his  men,  without  feeling  that  he  owes  them 
the  sympathy  of  benevolence.  He  owes  them 
advice.  They  will  hear  to  him  as  to  no  other 
person  living.  His  experience  will  be  invaluable 
to  those  who  have  no  experience  on  which  they 
can  rely.  Some  of  our  large  merchants,  who 
have  many  clerks,  are  purchasing  libraries  to 
be  at  the  service  of  these,  and  thus  save  them 
from  the  temptations  of  being  out  in  the  evening. 
And  the  benevolent  heart  will  find  a  thousand 
ways  of  winning  those  whom  it  employs  to  the 
side  of  sobriety  and  virtue.  You  can  provide 
seats  in  the  house  of  God  on  the  Sabbath,  allow- 
ing each  one  to  select  his  own  church,  of  course, 
and  then  see  that  these  seats  are  occupied.  You 
can  see  that  one  or  more  religious,  as  well  as 


POSITION,  INFLUENCE,  AND    DUTIES.  41 

political  papers,  come  regularly  for  their  use. 
You  can  see  that  eacli  one  in  your  employment 
has  the  word  of  God — ^that  treasury  of  instruc- 
tion which  will  show  every  young  man  where- 
with he  may  cleanse  his  ways.  If  you  will  care- 
fully read  over  the  fourth  commandment,  you 
will  see  that  those  whom  you  employ  are  under 
your  own  charge,  and  you  have  the  command 
of  God  that  you  shall  see  to  it  that  they  keep 
holy  the  Sabbath  day.  They  stand  in  the  reh;- 
tion  of  children  to  you,  in  many  respects,  and 
you  are  to  see  that  they  externally  honor  the 
Sabbath.  The  modern  exaggerated  notions  of 
toleration  and  the  sacred  rights  of  conscience, 
have  nothing  to  do  with  a  duty  which  God  has 
settled.  I  do  not  ask,  nor  will  you,  that  those 
whom  you  employ  shall  attend  worship  where 
you  do  ;  but  if  you  will  raise  up  men  who  are 
worthy  to  take  your  place  when  you  are  off  the 
stage,  if  you  will  raise  the  character  of  even  the 
lowest,  and  create  in  him  self-respect,  you  must 
insist  upon  it  that  he  shall  honor  the  Sabbath. 

When  you  have  men  under  you  whose  char- 
acters are  formed,  who  have  grown  into  the 
station  they  occupy,  and  can  never  rise  above 
it,  you  can  do  a  great  deal  of  good  by  taking  ar» 
interest  in  their  concerns,  and  advising   with 


42  MEN    OF    BUSINESS  '. 

tliem  and  for  them.  I  once  knew  a  poor  man 
wlio  lived  in  a  cold  liouse  and  nsed  more  than 
a  cord  of  green  wood  a  week,  on  an  average,  tlie 
year  round,  in  t?ymg  to  keep  comfortable.  He 
felt  too  poor  to  buy  a  stove.  By  great  urging 
and  long  demonstration,  I  induced  Mm  to  sell 
twenty  cords  of  his  green  wood,  and  buy  a  cook- 
ing-stove, and  then  to  get  up  twenty  cords  more 
in  time  to  have  it  become  seasoned.  His  amaze- 
ment was  great  on  finding  that  twenty  cords  of 
dry  wood,  with  his  stove,  made  his  family  more 
comfortable  than  the  sixty  cords  did  in  the  old 
way,  and  he  looked  upon  me  as  almost  a  con- 
jurer. You  can  give  that  advice  about  their 
procuring  a  home,  about  their  purchases,  about 
the  schooling  of  their  children,  about  the  em- 
ployment of  their  children,  which  will  be  of  very 
great  service  to  them.  It  is  impossible,  of  course, 
for  one  who  has  had  little  or  no  personal  experi- 
ence in  the  thing  for  which  I  am  pleading,  to  be 
very  definite  ;  but  all  know  that  the  clerks  of 
some  houses,  and  the  apprentices  of  some  mas- 
ter mechanics,  turn  out  well,  and  make  valuable 
men,  while  those  from  other  masters  turn  out 
poorly.  All  know  that  the  dwelling-houses 
around  some  factories  look  bare,  filthy,  desolate, 
and  repulsive ;  those  of  others  are  neat,  clean, 


POSITION,    INFLUENCE,    AND    DUTIES.  48 

inviting,  and  clieerful.  All  know  tliat  tlie  em- 
ployees of  some  establishments  spend  the  Sab- 
bath in  fishing  and  hunting,  in  roaming  and 
drinking ;  that  those  of  others  are  sober,  well- 
dressed,  well-regulated  families,  who  go  regu- 
larly to  the  house  of  God  ;  that  while  some  men 
feel  no  responsibility  about  those  whom  they 
employ — ^as  if  they  had  done  all  their  duty  when 
they  had  paid  them  the  sum  agreed  upon,  and 
had  seen  that  they  do  their  work — ^there  are 
others  who  take  a  kind  of  benevolent  and 
Christian  interest  in  those  whom  they  employ. 
The  clerks  and  the  apprentices  are  sometimes 
invited  to  the  parlor  and  the  table  of  the  em- 
ployer, and  the  lady  shows  that  she  deserves  the 
title,  by  noticing,  encouraging,  and  honoring 
those  whose  interests  are  committed  to  her  hus- 
band. These  clerks  and  apprentices  will,  in  a 
few  years,  most  likely,  occupy  positions  as  high 
as  yours  ;  and  the  children  of  the  man  who  now 
works  in  your  factory  may,  by-and-by,  be  among 
the  lawyers  and  judges  of  the  land.  We  should 
make  the  impression  on  all,  that  labor  is  honor- 
able, and  that  he  who  cJieerfully  plunges  into 
labor  and  sustains  his  part  well,  is  deserving  of 
high  respect.  All  the  distinctions  in  our  country 
are  but  for  a  day.    Those  who  are  at  the  head  of 


44  MEN    OF    BUSINESS  : 

society  to-day  may  be  at  the  foot  in  a  few  years ; 
and  those  who  are  low  now,  may,  in  their  child- 
ren, be  greatly  exalted.  I  am  not  pleading  for- 
equality,  but  for  the  rights  of  humanity,  and  for 
something  higher  than  these  temporary  distinc- 
tions ;  that  the  welfare  of  men  committed  to 
your  care,  in  God's  providence,  is  a  sacred  trust, 
and  one  of  the  ways  in  which  you  can  do  good. 
The  great  thing  which,  in  this  country,  places  a 
man  in  the  position  of  influence  and  at  the  head 
of  his  calling,  is  moral  worth  and  talents.  In 
business,  it  is  what  we  call  a  business  tact,  includ- 
ing sound  judgment,  firm  self-reliance,  prompt 
decision,  and  dispatch.  These  qualities  depend 
partly  on  bodily  organization,  education,  and 
mental  endowments.  They  are  the  gift  of  God, 
and  these  are  a  trust  to  be  used  for  him  to  the 
benefit  of  your  fellow  men.  The  great  mass  of 
society  have  not  these  gifts.  Now,  if  with  your 
energy,  and  skill,  and  industry,  you  acquire  pro- 
perty, and  do  a  large  amount  of  business,  and 
thus  call  around  you  a  large  number  of  men  to 
aid  you,  I  want  to  impress  it  upon  you  that  these 
men  are  put  under  your  care,  not  that  you  may 
oppress  them,  not  that  you  may  make  them  pro- 
fitable to  you  and  aid  to  roll  up  an  estate,  and 
thus  every  day  put  a  greater  and  a  greater  dif- 


POSITION,    INFLUENCE,    AND    DUTIES.  45 

ference  between  you  and  them,  but  tliat  you 
may  guide  them,  assist  them,  and  bless  them. 
You  must  often  bear  with  them.  They  are  un- 
educated, perhaps.  They  do  not  see  why  one 
should  be  rich  and  ninety-nine  poor,  perhaps. 
They  wonder  why  their  income  should  not  be 
as  great  as  yours,  perhaps.  You  must  bear  with 
them.  I  do  rejoice  to  say  that  men  of  capital 
and  men  of  business  are  beginning  to  look  at 
this  subject  aright.  There  are  many  ships  in 
which  the  sailor  is  taken  up  from  the  horrid 
forecastle,  and  put  in  comfortable  quarters  on 
deck,  where  he  can  have  air  to  breathe.  Some 
ships  have  been  built,  and  as  many  poor  men 
allowed  to  take  shares  as  they  cost  hundreds  of 
dollars  to  build  and  fit  them  out.  Many  manu- 
facturers have  put  up  beautiful  tenements  for 
their  workmen,  planted  their  grounds  with  trees, 
and  in  some  instances  set  off  a  little  garden  to 
each  family.  Many  have  established  Sabbath- 
schools,  and  sometimes  day  schools,  for  their 
workmen's  children.  As  to  profit  and  loss, 
mere  dollars  and  cents,  I  have  no  doubt  that 
any  employer  who  tries  to  aid,  encourage,  guide, 
and  care  for  the  people  thus  committed  to  him, 
will,  in  the  long  run,  be  decidedly  the  gainer. 
A  railroad  contractor  told  me  that  in  building 


46  MEN  OF  business: 

a  road  at  tlie  South,  lie  had  to  hire  slaves. 
When  his  hands  were  assembled,  he  went  to 
them,  and  in  a  short  speech  informed  them  that 
he  had  hired  them  of  their  masters ;  that  he 
intended  to  give  them  good  food  and  enough  of 
it,  and  that  at  every  Saturday  night  he  should 
pay  one  dollar  extra  to  each  man  who  had  been 
true  and  faithful,  for  his  own  private  use.  As 
a  result,  he  said,  he  never  had  a  corps  of  men 
work  riiore  cheerfully  or  do  better,  and  that  the 
hundred  dollars  which  he  thus  weekly  paid  out 
was  a  most  profitable  investment. 

I  would  suggest,  too,  that  the  employer  would 
do  well,  when  he  finds  a  faithful  man,  to  hold 
out  inducements  to  him  to  become  permanent. 
Encourage  him  to  get  a  home  of  his  own.  Show 
him  how  he  may  save  a  part  of  his  wages,  and 
thus  pay  for  it  in  time.  A  changing  population 
must  be  poor,  and  continue  poor  ;  and  the  ope- 
ratives in  factories  who  roll  round  from  place  to 
place,  must  be  thriftless,  poor,  and  sunken  in 
hope  and  courage. 

Let  but  the  heart  of  the  employer  go  out  in 
benevolence,  and  feel  the  responsibility,  and 
there  will  be  a  thousand  ways  discovered  by 
which  he  can  do  good  to  those  who  toil  for  him. 
When  a  man  places  his  child  in  a  school,  he  feels 


47 

that  he  has  committed  that  child  to  the  teacher, 
and  that  he  is  to  do  more  than  to  hear  the  recita- 
tions and  see  that  the  hours  of  study  are  duly 
observed — he  is  to  have  the  training  of  the 
whole  character  of  that  child.  So  when  a  parent 
commits  his  son  to  you  to  educate  him  as  a 
merchant  or  a  mechanic,  it  is  the  school  to 
which  he  sends  him,  and  you  are  accountable 
for  the  whole  moral  training  of  the  youth.  It 
is  a  different  training  from  the  college,  but  it  is 
training — a  school,  and  you  are  the  teacher. 
Will  it  do,  then,  to  say,  that  if  you  see  that  he 
works  during  working  hours^  and  is  instructed 
how  to  work,  that  is  all  you  are  accountable  for, 
and  you  have  no  responsibility  as  to  where  he 
spends  the  Sabbath  or  his  evenings,  as  to  what 
company  he  keeps,  and  what  influences  are 
shaping  his  destiny  ?  How  bitterly  through 
life,  and  perhaps  to  eternity,  many  have 
mourned  their  want  of  care  in  their  early 
youth  ! 

I  do  not  feel  that  the  sin  of  the  employer  in 
this  country  is,  that  you  do  not  pay  your  work- 
men good  wages,  as  a  general  thing,  nor  that 
you  neglect  to  pay  them  punctually ;  but  the 
great  defect  is,  want  of  sympathy,  want  of  kind- 
ness.    The  proud  heart  rebels  at  the  decree  of 


48  MisN  OF  business: 

God  which,  places  it  in  an  inferior  position.  It 
chafes  under  poverty.  It  magnifies  its  trials, 
and  forgets  its  mercies.  It  envies  what  is  above 
it,  and  wants  to  quarrel  with  the  man  who  fur- 
nishes employment.  It  complains  much  and 
often,  and  wants  to  complain  more  than  it  does. 
ISTothing  but  kindness  and  sympathy  can  cause 
t  to  feel  contented,  without  the  grace  of  God 
/n  the  heart.  I  shall  be  told,  perhaps,  that  the 
trials  of  the  employed  are  imaginary,  and  that 
the  youth  who  is  turning  morose,  and  feels  that 
he  shall  never  forget  his  present  hard  lot,  has 
no  reason  for  all  this.  Very  likely  it  is  so.  But 
if  you  can,  by  kindness  and  sympathy,  prevent 
his  becoming  soured  in  temper  and  spoiled  for 
life,  prevent  his  laying  up  this  and  that  to  think 
over  in  future  days,  it  is  better  far  to  show  that 
kindness  and  sympathy,  and  turn  the  waters  into 
channels  that  will  be  green  and  fertile  through 
future  years.  The  great  amount  of  suffering 
among  the  poor  in  this  country,  some  would 
say,  is  imaginary.  I  am  speaking  of  those  who 
labor.  In  other  countries,  the  child  that  is  born 
in  a  low  condition  is  expected  to  continue  there. 
The  child  of  a  servant  is  a  servant,  of  course. 
The  family  of  the  operative  are  operatives,  of 
course.    They  have  no  trouble  because  they  are 


POSITION,    INFLUENCE,    AND    DUTIES.  49 

low,  or  because  they  see  means  of  rising  Hglier. 
They  do  not  expect  it.  It  is  widely  different 
here.  JN'ot  a  young  man  here  undertakes  to 
learn  any  business,  who  does  not  know  that  he 
may  be  at  the  head  of  that  business  in  a  few 
years.  Not  a  boy  works  in  a  factory  who 
does  not  know  that  perhaps  the  owner  of 
all  this  great  establishment  was  once  as  poor  as 
himself ;  and  thus  he  has  not  merely  the  natural 
irritation  induced  by  poverty  and  a  depressed 
condition,  but  he  has  also  the  impatience  and 
the  irritation  arising  from  the  fact  that  he  wants 
to  rise  in  his  condition,  and  can  not  wait  ere  he 
begins  to  rise.  He  forgets  that  every  degree 
of  skill  acquired,  every  new  insight  into  the 
business,  every  exhibition  of  promptness  and 
efficiency,  is  laying  the  foundation  of  what  will 
hereafter  make  him  what  he  wants  to  be. 

There  are  trials,  temptations,  and  dangers,  con- 
nected with  every  situation  in  life  ;  and  perhaps 
there  are  few  in  which  they  are  greater  than 
among  business  men.  They  have  the  means  of 
self-indulgence.  There  is  not  a  gratification 
known  to  the  depraved  appetite  of  man,  which 
money  will  not  procure.  They  have  it  in  their 
power  to  oppress  all  other  classes  in  the  com- 
munity, and  especially  to  be  hard  and  oppress- 


50  MEN  OF  business: 

ive  upon  those  who  work  for  them.  Laban  can 
change  the  wages  of  Jacob  as  often  as  he  chose. 
They  have  it  in  their  power  to  grind  the  poor, 
when  once  the  poor  are  their  debtors.  And  I 
need  not  say,  that  any  power  which  depraved 
men  have,  is  liable  to  abuse.  There  is  therefore 
the  need  of  special  care,  watchfulness,  and  circum- 
spection, lest  you  give  way  to  this  temptation. 
I  have  personally  known  things — ^treatment  of 
the  laborer  as  to  his  pay,  a^  the  charges  for 
articles  sold  him — ^such  as  would  make  the  ears 
tingle.  I  know,  too,  that  there  are  trials  insep- 
arable from  business,  which  are  constant,  and 
which  are  very  great. 

Life  is  made  up  of  trials  and  duties.  Every 
class  must  expect  these  ;  and  if  your  position  is 
more  exalted  than  the  average  of  your  race, 
your  duties  must  correspond.  And  a  beautiful 
arrangement  it  is,  that  our  heavenly  Father 
should  have  waters  gathered  here  and  there  in 
great  lakes,  from  which  a  thousand  thirsty  acres 
can  draw.  He  disperses  and  spreads  the  waters 
over  the  whole  region  by  means  of  these  reser- 
voirs. And  so  he  places  the  business  men  along 
through  the  land,  that  they  may  collect,  and 
move,  and  change  the  wealth  of  the  world,  and 
thus  give  employment,  and  food,  and  living  to 


POSITION,   INFLUENCE,    AND   DUTIES.  51 

the  multitudes  whom  they  call  in  to  help  them. 
And  thus  is  a  mutual  dependence  created  be- 
tween men  of  different  capacities  and  gifts, 
attainments  and  powers.  The  active  and  the 
vigorous  are  delegated  to  sustain  the  weak  and 
the  imbecile.  The  quick,  powerful  mind,  to  look 
out  for  the  mind  that  is  slow  and  inefficient. 
These  should  be  the  protectors  of  those  who 
need  protection.  These  have  a  conscious  super- 
iority, which  they  wish  neither  to  deny  nor  to 
conceal.  Is  that  superiority  to  be  an  engine  of 
good  or  of  evil  ?  WiU  you  make  it  a  blessing 
or  a  curse  to  those  who  come  to  you  to  exchange 
their  toil  for  their  bread,  who  sell  their  own 
sinews  that  they  may  live  ? 

God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  and  that  same 
wisdom  that  saw  it  best  to  make  different  orders 
and  conditions  of  society,  foresaw  that  there 
would  always  be  this  relation — ^the  employer 
and  the  employed,  the  mind  that  plans  and  the 
hands  that  execute.  And  how  careful  has  he 
been  in  his  laws,  and  even  in  the  unrepealable 
commandments,  to  make  provision  for  those 
who  serve,  so  that  they  shall  be  a  part  of  his 
family.  It  is  wise  for  the  master,  for  his  interests 
will  be  promoted  in  proportion  as  he  sympa- 
thizes with  and  takes  an  interest  in  those  who 


'>i:  MEN  OF  business: 

labor  for  him.  It  is  wise  for  the  employed,  for 
they  can  use  an  experience  and  a  sagacity  supe- 
rior to  their  own.  I  have  been  asked,  I  know 
not  how  many  times,  how  to  make  the  interests 
of  the  employer  and  the  employed  one  and  the 
same.  With  our  selfish  hearts,  it  can  not  be 
done  ;  but  we  can  approximate  towards  it ;  and 
I  believe  the  first  step  must  be  taken  by  the 
employer,  and  that  those  who  serve  him  will, 
as  a  general  thing,  be  faithful,  very  much  in 
proportion  as  he  is  seen  to  care  for  them.  It  is 
not  by  giving  higher  wages  than  others  do,  that 
you  can  do  it.  You  can  not  buy  an  exemption 
from  the  binding  force  of  the  fourth  command- 
ment, with  money;  but  it  is  by  aiding  your 
help  to  spend  their  wages  wisely ;  by  taking  an 
interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  their  families ;  by 
feeling  responsible  for  their  moral  culture.  But 
the  master  who  seldom  or  never  speaks  to  his 
employees,  who  never  enters  their  dwellings, 
who  has  no  care  how  they  spend  the  Sabbath, 
what  becomes  of  their  souls,  is,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  in  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  not  doing  his 
duty.  He  is  not  doing  as  he  would  be  done  by. 
They  are  your  servants,  and  if  they  are  so  many 
that  you  can  not  receive  them  under  your  own 
I'oof,  it  will  not  take  from  you  the  responsibility. 


53 


The  world  is  not  wretched  because  we  are  not 
all  on  equality,  and  some  have  more  mind, 
energy,  and  property  than  others,  but  it  is 
wretched  because  we  do  not  our  duty  to  one 
another.  The  friction  of  the  machine  is  so  great, 
not  because  some  wheels  are  large  and  some  are 
small,  but  because  they  do  not  move  in  har- 
mony, each  doing  its  share.  Children  of  one 
common  Father,  fed  by  one  and  the  same  hand, 
our  stations  appointed  by  one  and  the  same 
wisdom,  involved  in  the  same  fall  and  ruin, 
redeemed  by  the  same  Saviour,  to  meet  at  the 
same  grave-yard,  to  be  judged  before  the  same 
throne,  are  we  not  brethren  now  ? 

Oh !  I  am  afraid  that  in  the  great  day  of  trial 
it  will  go  hard,  not  with  the  master  and  owner 
of  the  neglected  and  abused  slave  merely,  but 
with  many  who  have  taken  high  airs  upon  them- 
selves because  they  were  not  owners  of  slaves, 
])ut  who  have  had  men  and  women  in  their 
service,  for  whose  welfare  they  have  taken  no 
more  interest  than  if  they  were  slaves !  No 
other  man  has  so  much  influence  with  his  hel}^ 
as  the  employer.  No  other  man  is  looked  up  to 
as  he  is  by  them.  They  are  his  dependants, 
and  he  holds  their  happiness  very  much  in  his 
hand.     They  are  committed  to  him  by  the  pro- 


54  MEN   OF   BUSINESS. 

vidence  of  God.  He  can  raise  up  jewels  for  the 
crown  of  Christ  from  among  their  number.  He 
has  constant  and  rich  opportunities  to  do  them 
good,  which  no  other  man  can  have.  What  a 
pattern  ought  he  to  be  !     What  a  model ! 

I  am  pleading  the  cause  of  the  great  mass  of 
the  human  family  ;  of  all  who  preach  the  Gos- 
pel, your  servants  for  Christ's  sake  ;  of  all  who 
labor  on  the  land,  and  plow  your  fields,  and  reap 
down  your  harvests  ;  of  all  who  stand  or  work 
in  your  stores,  at  the  forge  or  at  the  bench  in 
your  shops,  who  sit  at  your  looms  or  watch 
your  spindles  in  the  factory ;  of  all  who  hazard 
their  lives  to  exchange  your  property  in  distant 
countries  ;  of  all  who  serve  and  aid  in  carr3dng 
out  the  plans  of  the  man  of  business.  I  am 
pleading  the  cause  of  all  who  are  beneath  you 
in  position,  and  means,  and  influence ;  and  I 
charge  you  that  you  are  your  brother's  keeper. 
Not  his  blood  merely  will  cry  to  God  from  the 
ground,  but  the  groans  of  oppression,  the  sighs 
of  neglect,  the  mistakes  of  his  ignorance,  the 
silent  agonies  of  the  heart  that  beats  without 
sympathy — ^these  all  cry  to  God,  and  their  cry 
comes  up  into  the  ears  of  the  God  of  Sabaoth, 
and  he  comes  and  charges  you,  "  Masters,  give 
unto  your  servants  that  which  is  just  and  equal ; 
knowing  that  ve  also  have  a  Master  in  heaven." 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS  : 

THEIR    RESPONSIBILITY   IN    RESPECT    TO 

GOVERNMENTS,  CHURCHES, 

AND  BENEVOLENT  INSTITUTIONS. 


WILLIAM  B.  SPRAGUE,  D.D. 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS: 

THEIK    EESPONSIBILITY   IN   EESPECT   TO 

THE  GOYEKIS^MENT,  THE  CHUKCII,  AND 

BE]S"EyOLE]S[T  institutio:n's. 


In  tlie  largest  sense  of  tlie  pkrase  men  of 
busiiws^j  must  be  included  all  those  whose  time 
is  employed  for  purposes  of  profit  or  improve- 
ment— all,  indeed,  except  such  as  are  rendered 
inactive  by  disease  or  infirmity  on  the  one 
hand,  or  inclination  or  habit  on  the  other.  The 
statesman,  who  watches  the  interests  of  his 
country  with  a  devotion  that  never  tires ;  the 
lawyer,  who  works  night  and  day  to  secure  a 
triumphant  issue  of  his  client's  cause  ;  the  min- 
ister of  the  Gospel,  who  counts  no  sacrifice  dear 
that  may  be  necessary  to  accomplish  the  great 
ends  of  his  office ;  the  physician,  who,  in  obe- 
dience to  the  midnight  call,  hurries  away  to  the 
dwellings  of   the   sick;   the  schoolmaster,  to 


2  MEN   OF   BUSINESS. 

whom  is  intrusted,  in  a  great  degree,  the  de- 
velopment and  direction  of  the  youthful  mind  ; 
the  author,  who  now  gives  to  himself  a  sort  of 
omnipresence,  and  now  sleeps  out  a  brief  exist- 
ence in  some  corner  of  a  bookstore  ;  and,  finally, 
the  farmer,  whose  vocation,  involving  obedience 
to  the  very  letter  of  the  Divine  command, 
stands  honored  in  the  sight  of  both  God  and 
man; — all  these,  I  say,  are,  in  an  important 
sense,  men  of  business  ;  and  each  is  necessary  to 
preserve  the  balance,  and  carry  forward  the 
purposes,  of  human  society.  In  the  present 
essay,  however,  I  shall  consider  the  phrase  in  a 
more  restricted  sense,  as  applying  chiefly  to 
those  who  are  engaged  in  the  different  branches 
of  commerce  and  the  various  mechanical  arts, 
and  in  conducting  banking  establishments  and 
other  institutions  connected  with  the  financial 
interests  of  a  community.  I  will  endeavor  to 
illustrate,  briefly,  the  responsibility  of  this  class 
in  reference  to  civil  government,  the  Church, 
and  the  great  benevolent  institutions  of  the  age. 

I. CIVIL   GOVEENMENT. 

Whether  the  legitimate  blessings  of  which 
civil  government  is  the  divinely  constituted  me- 
dium are  to  be  realized,  or  in  what  measure 


THE   GOVERNMENT.  3 

they  are  to  be  realized,  depends  cMefly  on  tlie 
character  of  those  to  whom  its  administration  is 
intrusted;  and  that  this  is  determined  in  a 
great  degree  by  business  men,  no  one  who  re- 
flects at  all  can  fail  to  perceive.  For,  in  the 
first  place,  every  business  man,  in  common  with 
the  rest  of  the  community,  has  a  vote ;  and  in 
this  point  of  view,  the  numerical  weight  of  this 
class  is  immense.  But  there  are  other  consider- 
ations beside  numbers  that  go  to  heighten  their 
influence  in  regard  to  popular  elections.  The 
farmer,  though  he  may  have  a  well-considered 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  comparative  merits  of 
different  candidates,  and  may  express  it  freely, 
as  he  finds  opportunity,  yet,  from  the  very 
nature  of  his  occupation,  he  has  access  to  com- 
paratively few  other  minds,  and  he  is  satisfied 
for  the  most  part  with  reading  the  newspaper 
reports  of  what  is  going  on  around  him,  and 
occasionally  commenting  upon  them  to  a  neigh- 
bor, without  even  aiming  at  any  thing  in  the 
way  of  direct  control.  The  business  man,  on 
the  contrary,  is  constantly  brought  in  contact 
with  others — has  an  opportunity  of  communi- 
cating his  views  and  hearing  theirs  in  return — 
of  discussing  the  character  and  claims  of  oppos- 
ing  candidates,  and   of   exerting  not   only   a 


4  MEN   OF   BUSINESS. 

direct,  but  often  an  extensive,  influence  to  secure 
or  prevent  an  election.  Moreover,  there  is  an 
energy  imparted  to  tlie  mind  by  business  habits, 
wLicli  makes  itself  felt  beyond  tlie  routine  of 
daily  engagements,  and  especially  in  a  matter 
so  identified  with  all  the  great  movements  of 
society,  as  the  choice  of  rulers.  Hence  it  is 
manifest  that  this  class  must  necessarily  exert  a 
mighty  power  at  the  ballot-boxes ;  and  they  are 
responsible  for  the  manner  in  which  this  power 
is  used.  Providence  has  given  them  peculiar 
facilities  for  assisting  to  exalt  good  men  to 
places  of  honor  and  authority,  and  woe  be  to 
such  as  neglect  or  abuse  this  privilege. 

But  if  business  men  have  a  primary  influence 
in  the  election  of  rulers,  it  is  for  them,  too,  chiefly 
to  decide  the  measure  of  cooperation  that  rulers 
shall  meet  in  carrying  out  the  designs  of  gov- 
ernment. Those  who  occupy  high  places,  how- 
ever they  may  be  envied  by  the  multitude 
below  them,  are  really  legitimate  subjects  for 
sympathy,  in  consideration  of  the  manifold 
labors  to  which  they  are  called,  of  the  opposing 
interests  which  they  have  to  adjust,  and  of  the 
temptations  by  which  they  are  often  beset,  to 
make  shipwreck  of  a  good  conscience.  It  de- 
volves on  business  men,  more  than  any  other 


THE   GOVERNMENT.  6 

class,  to  determine  whether  they  shall  find  the 
administration  of  government  attended  with 
greater  or  less  difficulties  ;  whether  the  great  in- 
terests of  the  state  or  the  nation  shall  be  proper- 
ly attended  to,  or  shall  he  sacrificed  to  the  jea- 
lousies, and  rivalries,  and  collisions  incident  to 
the  malignant  fever  of  party  spirit.  K  this 
great  and  influential  class,  or  any  considerable 
portion  of  them,  array  themselves  against  the 
civil  authorities,  in  the  faithful  discharge  of 
their  duty,  it  can  not  otherwise  be  than  that  the 
machinery  of  government  will  be  retarded  or 
rendered  irregular  in  its  movements,  and  not 
improbably  some  disastrous  result  will  be 
worked  out.  There  is  often  a  diseased  state  of 
the  public  mind  which  passes  under  the  name 
of  apanic^  which  usually  originates  with  business 
men,  and  of  which  they  are  more  immediately, 
if  not  exclusively,  the  subjects.  Such  a  state 
of  things  is  eminently  fitted  to  impair  general 
confidence  in  the  "  powers  that  be  ;"  and  while, 
at  least  by  an  indirect  influence,  it  acts  injuri- 
ously upon  them,  it  is  equally  certain  to  have  a 
disastrous  reaction  upon  those  by  whom  it  is 
excited ;  and  thus  the  energies  of  government 
])ecome  sensibly  impaired.  Let  rulers  do  their 
work  as  faithfully  as  they  may,  there  will  be 


6  MEN   OF   BUSINESS. 

occasional  financial  embarrassments  —  dark 
clouds  obscuring  tlie  commercial  horizon,  wMcli 
no  human  sagacity  could  anticipate,  and  no 
human  power  could  prevent ;  and  yet  nothing 
is  more  common,  and  surely  nothing  more  un- 
reasonable, than  for  those  who  suffer  from  such 
a  state  of  things,  to  lay  it  to  the  charge  of  those 
in  authority,  as  if  they  were  of  course  respon- 
sible for  whatever  of  evil  may  be  inflicted  by 
the  providence  of  God,  or  the  villainy  of  man, 
during  their  administration.  It  were  a  dictate 
of  justice,  in  such  cases,  to  sympathize  with 
rulers,  rather  than  to  indulge  impatient  and 
bitter  complaints  of  them;  and  even  where 
they  are  justly  chargeable  with  imprudence, 
not  to  say  an  absolute  dereliction  of  principle, 
it  were  far  better  to  wait — -not,  indeed,  without 
suitable  remonstrance,  or,  as  the  case  may  be, 
even  expostulation,  but  without  restless  and  in- 
discriminate abuse — ^for  the  next  visit  to  the 
ballot-box  to  work  a  favorable  change.  Bad 
rulers  only  become  more  exasperated  by  fierce 
opposition ;  their  administration  gathers  poison 
from  all  the  hard  paragraphs  they  read,  and  all 
the  bitter  words  they  hear,  which  is  sure  to  be 
subsequently  exhaled  in  acts  still  more  oppress- 
ive ;  and  the  best  service  that  can  be  rendered 


THE    GOVERNMENT.  7 

to  society  is  to  tolerate  tliem  in  as  mucli  quiet- 
ude as  may  be,  as  long  a.s  they  must  remain,  but 
to  vote  tliem  intolerable  the  very  first  moment 
tbere  is  an  opportunity. 

Let  it  further  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  class 
of  which  I  am  speaking,  far  more  than  any 
other,  are  brought  in  direct  contact  with  the 
government ;  for  while  they  look  to  it  for  the 
protection  of  their  various  commercial  and 
financial  interests,  the  government,  in  return, 
exacts  from  them  a  tribute  in  aid  of  its  own 
operations.  Here  is  a  field  in  which  the  busi- 
ness man  often  has  the  opportunity  (and  alas ! 
too  often  improves  it)  to  indulge  his  cupidity 
for  wealth  at  the  expense  of  truth,  justice,  and 
honor.  He  who  would  be  as  quick  to  recognize 
the  obligation  of  dealing  fairly  with  his  fellow- 
man,  and  to  resent  the  imputation  of  fraud  in 
any  private  transaction,  as  any  other,  seems  not 
unfrequently  to  regard  the  public  revenue  as 
little  better  than  a  matter  of  private  plunder  ; 
and  a  cheat  committed  upon  the  custom-house 
ofiicer  is  more  likely  to  be  recalled  as  an  in- 
stance of  shrewdness  or  good  luck,  than  as  an 
outrage  upon  the  common  weal,  or  an  offense 
against  God.  And  yet,  so  far  as  the  nature  of 
the  act  is  concerned,  it  matters  not  whether  the 


8  MEN   OF   BUSINESS. 

object  against  wMcli  it  is  directed  be  an  indivi- 
dual or  a  community ;  for  tliougli  tbe  evil  might 
seem  to  fall  more  beavily  upon  one  tlian  upon 
many,  yet  it  is  by  no  means  certain  but  that,  in 
its  ulterior  consequences,  it  migbt  act  with  a 
more  malign  influence,  even  upon  individual  in- 
terests, tban  if  it  bad  been  limited  to  a  single 
person  in  its  original  design.  Let  every  business 
man  feel,  when  be  is  tempted  to  defraud  tbe 
public  treasury  by  concealment,  by  bribery,  by 
false  representations,  that  if  be  yields,  be  is 
playing  tbe  part  of  a  traitor  towards  tbe  gov- 
ernment tbat  is  sworn  to  guard  bis  rigbts  and 
promote  bis  interests ;  and  tbat  bowever  be  may 
succeed  in  wearing  tbe  mask,  be  is  really  an 
offender  against  integrity  and  honor,  against  his 
country  and  his  God.  And  it  is  not  enough 
that  he  avoid  such  dishonest  and  dishonorable 
acts  himself;  he  is  bound  to  discourage,  if  pos- 
sible to  prevent,  or,  as  the  case  may  be,  to 
expose,  them  in  others ;  and  by  every  means  in 
his  power  to  cooperate  with  the  government  in 
securing  to  it  its  just  dues,  as  well  as  carrying 
out  its  legitimate  ends.  Let  this  numerous  and 
active  class  of  citizens  be  scrupulously  faithful 
to  their  obligations  in  this  respect,  and  we 
should  quickly  find  a  new  era  of  public  pros- 
perity opening  upon  us. 


THE   aOVERKMENT.  9 

Is  it  not  true,  then,  tliat  business  men  have  a 
mighty  responsibility  resting  upon  them,  in  con- 
nection with  the  operations  of  civil  govern- 
ment—  especially  a  government  constituted 
like  ours,  which  is  so  immediately  identified 
with  the  will  of  the  people,  and  which  that  will 
may  at  any  time  modify  by  a  change  of  rulers — 
a  change  in  which  business  men  have  always  a 
leading  agency  ?  Who  can  estimate  the  amount 
of  influence  which  they  may  exert,  must  exert, 
for  good  or  evil,  at  this  fountain  of  public  weal 
or  woe  ?  Let  them  remember  that  the  action 
of  the  government  is  in  a  great  measure,  though 
indirectly,  controlled  by  them ;  that  it  is  for 
them  to  say  whether  its  movements  shall  be 
easy  or  difficult ;  that  other  classes  virtually 
implore  them  to  be  faithful  to  their  interests  as 
well  as  their  own.  Nay,  let  it  sink  like  lead 
into  their  hearts,  that  to  them  especially  is  com- 
mitted the  integrity  of  this  Union, — ^that  which 
we  have  always  been  looking  to  as  constituting 
our  highest  praise  among  the  nations  ;  and  that 
if  we  are  enabled  to  outlive  all  the  threatening 
convulsions,  and  to  accomplish  the  glorious  des- 
tiny which  has  seemed  to  be  marked  out  for  us, 
to  them,  more  than  any  others — ^perhaps  we  may 
say  more  than  all  others,  so  far  as  mere  human 


10  MEN   OF   BUSINESS. 

influence  is  concerned,  shall  we  be  indebted  for 
our  national  preservation  and  triumpb. 

II.  But  tbe  responsibility  of  tbis  class  bas  re- 
spect not  more  to  tbe  government  tban  to  tbe 
Chuech  ;  it  is  bere,  indeed,  tbat  tbeir  influence 
is  most  vitally  felt ;  and  it  operates  tbrougb 
cbannels  analogous  to  tbose  by  wbicb  it  reacbes 
tbe  springs  of  civil  government. 

Tbe  most  obvious  tbougbt  wbicb  occurs  in 
illustration  of  tbis  point  is,  tbat  business  men 
bave  a  most  important  part  to  perform  in  refer- 
ence to  tbe  Cbristian  ministry.  Tbe  Cburcb  is 
indeed,  in  tbe  order  of  nature,  anterior  to  tbe 
ministry ;  but  tbe  ministry  acts  as  a  bandmaid 
to  tbe  Cburcb;  indeed  it  is  tbe  divinely  ap- 
pointed instrumentabty  by  wbicb  tbe  Cburcb  is 
to  collect  ber  members  and  acbieve  ber  victo- 
ries. And  tbe  character  of  tbe  Cburcb  at  any 
given  period  may  be  learned  witb  almost  infal- 
lible certainty  from  tbe  character  of  ber  ministry. 
"  Like  people,  like  priest,"  is  descriptive  of  an  im- 
portant feature  of  botb  tbe  Jewish  and  tbe  Cbrist- 
ian dispensations.  Whether  we  contemplate  tbe 
Church  on  a  broad  or  a  narrow  scale ;  whether 
we  note  its  movements  for  an  age  or  for  a  year  ; 
whether  we  take  in  tbe  whole  body  of  Christ's 


THE    CHURCH.  11 

professed  followers,  or  limit  our  view  to  one  de- 
nomination, or  even  to  tlie  worshippers  in  a 
single  sanctuary,  we  shall  find  that,  with  few 
exceptions,  it  takes  the  character  which  a  pre- 
vious knowledge  of  its  ministry  would  have  led 
us  to  expect.  An  enlightened,  evangelical,  dis- 
creet, and  earnest  ministry,  on  the  one  hand,  just 
as  naturally  forms  a  church  to  an  exalted  type 
of  intelligence,  public  spirit,  and  devotion  ;  and 
an  ignorant,  conceited,  worldly,  or  blustering 
ministry,  on  the  other,  just  as  naturally  imparts 
to  a  church  its  own  leading  characteristics,  as 
any  other  cause  produces  its  effect.  Whatever, 
then,  affects  the  ministry,  touches  vitally  the 
well-being  of  the  Church.  Whoever  contri- 
butes in  any  way  to  elevate  or  to  depress  this 
divine  institution  in  the  regards  of  the  commu- 
nity, is,  for  that  reason,  to  be  reckoned  a  friend 
or  a  foe  to  the  Church.  A  moment's  reflection 
will  show  us  that  business  men  have  here  a  re- 
sponsibility which  it  is  not  easy  to  measure. 

For  here,  as  in  respect  to  civil  rulers,  their 
numerical  importance  gives  them  great  influence. 
If  a  minister  is  to  be  chosen,  especially  in  a 
populous  place,  you  can  not  fail  to  be  struck 
with  the  fact,  that  a  great  majority  of  those  on 
whom  the  choice  devolves,  are  business  men. 


/ 


12  MEN   OF   BUSESTESS. 

If  the  congregation  are  in  doubt  in  respect  to 
a  candidate,  and  wish  to  obtain  tlie  opinion  of 
some  of  the  best  judging  among  their  own 
number,  in  regard  to  his  qualifications,  you  will 
find  that,  in  a  vast  majority  of  cases,  the  delicate 
office  of  hearing  and  deciding  for  the  rest,  will 
be  intrusted  to  a  few  business  men.  And  if 
there  are  other  important  preliminary  arrange- 
ments to  be  made,  the  same  class  will  almost 
certainly  be  put  in  requisition  to  make  them. 
The  fact  that  their  respective  vocations  bring 
them  so  much  in  contact  not  only  with  each 
other,  but  with  all  other  classes,  in  connection 
with  the  habit  of  prompt  activity  which  almost 
necessarily  results  from  their  daily  employment, 
secures  to  them  an  influence  in  deciding  the  im- 
portant question  of  the  settlement  of  a  minister, 
which  is  peculiar  to  themselves.  "Whenever  a 
congregation,  especially  a  large  and  important 
congregation,  is  vacant,  the  magnitude  of  the 
interests  involved  in  the  question — how  that 
vacancy  shall  be  supplied— outruns  all  human 
comprehension.  But  that  is  the  question  that 
business  men  chiefly  have  to  settle.  It  is  for 
them  to  say  whether  there  shall  be  a  bright 
light  fixed  in  that  candlestick,  that  shall  shine 
by  an  hereditary  influence  upon  many  success- 


THE   CHURCH.  J3 

ive  generations ;  or  whether  it  shall  be  a  dim 
light  that  shall  scarcely  show  the  path  to  Hea- 
ven ;  or  whether  there  shall  be  a  gloomy  and 
protracted  vacancy  there,  which  shall  be  shared 
by  a  chilling  worldliness  and  a  frenzied  fanati- 
cism. Surely  this  is  a  responsibility  that  may 
well  make  them  pause,  consider,  even  tremble. 

The  minister  is  now  chosen ;  and  the  proper 
ecclesiastical  authorities  have  sanctioned  the 
choice,  investing  him  with  the  legitimate  rights, 
and  charging  him  "  to  be  faithful  to  the  duties," 
that  belong  to  the  pastoral  office.  But  he  is 
made  of  flesh  and  blood,  just  as  other  men  are ; 
he  has  physical  wants,  in  common  with  his 
neighbors,  that  must  be  supplied ;  he  probably 
has,  or  will  have,  a  family  to  be  provided  for  ; 
and  as  he  depends  upon  his  vocation,  as  truly 
as  other  men  depend  upon  theirs,  for  a  support, 
to  whom  but  the  people  he  serves  is  he  to  look 
for  the  competent  provision?  This,  indeed,  is 
presumed  to  be  definitely  arranged  as  a  prepar- 
atory measure  to  his  settlement ;  but  it  some- 
times happens  that  promises  which  were  made 
in  good  faith,  are  but  tardily  or  imperfectly  ful- 
filled ;  or  that,  upon  change  of  times  or  circum- 
stances, the  pledged  stipend  proves  inadequate ; 
and  in  either  case  pecuniary  embarrassment  en- 


14  MEN    OF   BUSIKESS. 

sues, — ^no  matter  whether  the  world  take  cogni- 
zance of  it,  or  whether  it  Ibe  struggled  with  as 
a  painful  secret  in  the  sufferer's  own  bosom.  If 
a  man  of  any  other  profession  or  occupation 
becomes  crippled  in  respect  to  his  finances,  he 
can  legitimately  resort  to  other  kinds  of  busi- 
ness to  meet  the  exigencies  of  his  condition  ;  but 
if  a  minister  do  that,  he  does  it,  in  all  ordinary 
cases,  at  the  expense  of  lessening  his  official 
weight,  if  not  of  really  secularizing  his  character. 
Many  a  faithful  minister  who  has  been  placed  in 
these  embarrassing  circumstances,  has  had  his 
heart  rent  by  the  alternative  of  knowing  that  his 
honest  debts  must  remain  uncancelled,  and  his 
family  be  scarcely  provided  with  even  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  or  else  he  must  make  some  move- 
ment to  retrieve  his  condition,  that  shall  bring 
him  into  such  close  contact  with  the  world,  as 
both  to  mar  his  reputation  and  impair  his  use- 
fulness in  his  appropriate  field.  Now  it  devolves 
upon  business  men  especially,  to  consider  and 
provide  against  all  such  painful  exigencies.  Let 
them  show  themselves  ready  to  minister  to  all 
the  reasonable  wants  of  him  who  ministers  to 
them  ;  let  them  be  quick  to  discover  his  needs, 
so  that  he  shall  not  be  subjected  to  the  morti- 
fying necessity  of  seeming  to  take  on  the  cha- 


THE   CHURCH.  15 

racter  of  a  beggar ;  let  them  act  habitually  in 
the  faith  of  that  inspired  declaration,  "  the 
laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire ;"  let  him  be  able 
through  their  justice — ^for  I  will  not  speak  here 
of  generosity — ^to  claim  all  his  time  for  the  ap- 
propriate duties  of  his  high  calling,  and  then  it 
will  be  his  fault,  and  not  theirs,  if,  in  his  minis- 
trations, there  is  any  lack  of  service  towards 
them.  Happy,  thrice  happy  is  that  minister 
who  is  cast  in  the  midst  of  a  congregation  whose 
character  is  a  pledge  that,  with  reasonable  pru- 
dence on  his  part,  he  has  nothing  to  fear  in  re- 
spect to  worldly  embarrassment ;  whose  enter- 
prising, enlightened,  conscientious,  and  liberal 
business  men  are  always  watching  his  interests 
with  an  almost  fraternal  regard,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  surprising  him  with  their  generous  ben- 
efactions. 

There  are  other  concerns  belonging  to  the 
same  category  with  the  support  of  the  ministry, 
which  require  the  thoughtful  and  liberal  regards 
of  business  men, — especially  the  building  of 
churches  and  other  humbler  edifices  for  religious 
worship,  and  purposes  of  kindred  interest  and 
importance.  "  Time,  that  doth  all  things  else 
impair,"  after  a  while  leaves  its  finger-prints 
upon  our  sanctuaries ;  and  however  they  may 


16  KSK   OF   BUSINESS. 

be  gratefully  associated  with  tlie  memories  of 
our  fathers  whose  hands  reared  them,  and  whose 
devout  spirits  consecrated  them,  we  are  obliged, 
by  reason  of  their  dilapidated  state,  or  in  obe- 
dience to  the  taste  of  the  times,  or  perhaps  to 
accommodate  a  growing  population,  to  take 
them  down,  and  build  greater,  or  more  beautiful, 
or  more  commodious.  But  this  is  a  work  of 
thought,  and  labor,  and  expense ;  there  are 
often  delicate  and  perplexing  questions  involved, 
which  it  requires  great  sagacity  and  discretion 
to  meet ;  and  sometimes  there  are  opposing  in- 
terests to  be  reconciled,  that  may  seem  to  jeopard 
the  success  of  the  project ;  and  there  is  a  consid- 
erable amount  of  pecuniary  means  requisite — 
generally  much  larger  than  is  originally  contem- 
plated. Here  again  the  demand  is  chiefly  upon 
business  men.  Others,  indeed,  lend  a  helping 
hand, — especially  educated  and  professional  men, 
by  their  wise  and  judicious  counsels ;  but  it  is 
to  the  mechanics,  the  merchants,  the  bankers, 
that  we  look  more  especially  to  engage  actively 
in  the  project,  and  speed  it  onward  to  its  com- 
pletion. I  might  say,  with  comparatively  few 
exceptions,  that  every  church  in  the  land  is  a 
monument,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  of  the 
enterprise  or  the  munificence  of  business  men. 


THE   CHURCH.  17 

And  there  is  tlie  Sabbath-scliool  —  upon 
whom,  if  not  upon  our  young  men  of  business, 
are  we  to  depend  chiefly  for  sustaining  and  di- 
recting that  ?  Here,  indeed,  is  a  noble  field  for 
the  display  of  female  beneficence ;  and  it  is  an 
occasion  for  devout  thankfulness,  that  so  many 
of  the  gentler  sex  are  found  more  than  willing 
to  occupy  it ;  nor  can  it  reasonably  be  doubted 
that  this  circumstance  constitutes  one  of  the  most 
important  elements  of  the  efficiency  of  the  insti- 
tution ;  but  after  all,  they  who  have  the  primary 
agency  in  establishing  and  guiding  Sunday- 
schools,  are  the  young  men,  whom,  during  the 
week,  you  will  find  scattered  about  in  ware- 
houses and  workshops,  insurance  offices  and 
banks,  laboring  diligently  in  their  respective 
callings.  The  habit  of  mental  activity,  which 
they  contract  from  the  prosecution  of  their 
daily  business,  naturally  quickens  their  mental 
operations  in  respect  to  other  matters  ;  especial- 
ly are  they  prepared  to  address  themselves  with 
proportionably  greater  vigor  and  earnestness  to 
their  duties  as  Sunday-school  teachers.  And 
I  may  add,  they  have  many  opportunities,  in 
the  course  of  their  business,  to  enlist  the  in- 
fluence of  others  in  aid  of  the  object ;  to  per- 
suade children  and  youth  who  are  not  yet  in  the 


18  MEN    OF   BUSINESS. 

scliool,  to  join  it ;  and  to  quicken  the  sense  of 
responsibility  in  reference  to  the  same  subject, 
on  the  part  of  parents.  Let  them  bear  in  mind 
that  the  Sunday-school  to  which  they  belong,  is, 
by  common  consent,  placed  peculiarly  in  their 
keeping — ^that  while  others  are  bound  to  labor, 
as  they  have  opportunity,  for  the  advancement 
of  its  interests,  it  is  for  them,  more  than  all 
others,  to  decide  whether  it  shall  become  more 
extended  and  benign  in  its  operations,  or  whether 
it  shall  be  left  to  languish  into  a  state  of  ineJ0&- 
ciency  that  may  prove  the  harbinger  of  its  com- 
plete extinction. 

It  belongs,  moreover,  chiefly  to  this  class,  to 
determine,  so  far  as  human  agency  is  concerned, 
the  actual  state  of  religion  in  a  community.  As 
business  men  respect  or  neglect  Christian  insti- 
tutions— as  they  walk  in  the  fear  and  love  of 
God,  or  show  themselves  indifferent  to  the 
divine  precepts — ^it  may  confidently  be  expected 
that  religion  will  be  in  a  flourishing  or  a  de- 
pressed state;  and  that^  not  merely  from  the 
fact  that  they  constitute  so  large  a  class,  but 
from  the  influence  which  their  relations  to  soci- 
ety necessarily  secure  to  them.  We  may  illus- 
trate this  thought  under  two  or  three  particu- 
lars. 


IITE    CHURCH.  19 

With  nothing  is  tlie  progress  of  religion  more 
immediately  and  essentially  connected  tlian  a 
regular  attendance  on  tlie  public  services  of  tlie 
Sabbath.  Let  these  be  deliberately  and  volun- 
tarily neglected  by  the  mass  of  any  community, 
and  we  have  no  occasion  to  inquire  whether  oi* 
not  Christianity  exists  there  in  its  living  power ; 
for  the  very  statement  of  such  a  fact  is  but  an- 
other mode  of  saying  that  if  there  be  any  true 
religion  there,  it  is,  at  best,  in  a  sickly  condition. 
On  the  other  hand,  let  the  ordinances  of  Christ's 
house  be  diligently  and  punctually  attended, 
and  let  the  surrounding  population  make  con- 
science of  being  in  the  house  of  God  on  the 
Sabbath  as  often  as  its  doors  are  open  to  wel- 
come them,  and  no  higher  evidence  need  be 
asked  for,  that  there  the  general  tone  of  religion 
is  healthful  and  vigorous.  Which  side  of  this 
alternative  is  to  be  realized,  I  say  again,  it  is 
leffc,  in  a  great  measure,  with  business  men  to 
determine.  It  is  lamentable  that  too  many  of 
them  find  an  apology  for  being  at  least  irregu- 
lar in  their  attendance  at  the  sanctuary,  on  the 
ground  that  the  intense  occupation  of  the  week 
renders  it  necessary  that  they  should  spend  the 
Sabbath  in  absolute  repose ;  while  many  more, 
it  is  to  be  feared,  are  so  eager  in  their  worldly 


20  MEN    OF   BUSINESS. 

pursuits,  that  they  suffer  them  even  to  infringe 
upon  holy  time,  and  stay  away  from  church  be- 
cause they  can  not  spare  from  their  business  the 
hour  that  others  devote  to  the  ser\dce  of  God. 
And  I  may  say  in  this  connection,  that  in  no 
way  is  the  Sabbath  more  frequently  profaned 
by  business  men,  than  in  travelling,  either  by 
public  or  private  conveyances.  Would  that 
this  charge  could  be  sustained  against  those 
only  who  make  no  profession  of  their  faith  in 
Christ,  and  who,  therefore,  are  not  amenable  to 
the  Church  for  the  violation  of  Christ's  command- 
ments; but  the  melancholy  fact  is  that  many 
whose  presence  is  always  expected  at  the  com- 
munion table,  and  some  even  whose  general 
character  would  seem  inconsistent  with  such  a 
delinquency,  are  still  occasionally  found  in  rail- 
road cars  and  steamboats  during  the  hours  of 
the  Sabbath,  with  no  better  apology  than  that 
they  are  away  from  their  families,  and  wish  to 
lose  no  time  in  returning  to  them.  I  will  only 
say  that  professors  of  religion  who  do  this,  as- 
sume a  responsibility  which  they  can  very  ill 
afford  to  bear.  They  venture  in  the  face  of  the 
world  to  violate  one  of  the  plainest  of  God's 
commandments.  How  they  can  do  this  and 
keep  a  conscience  void  of  offense — ^how  they 


THE    CIIUKCH.  21 

can  do  this  and  not  feel  that  they  are  charge- 
able before  God  and  man  with  the  grossest  in- 
consistency— is  a  problem  which  it  must  be 
left  to  them  to  solve. 

Whether  or  not  the  occasional  services  that 
are  held  in  the  church  during  the  week  are  to 
be  well  or  ill  sustained,  we  must  also  look  to 
business  men  to  decide.  These  services  are  not, 
indeed,  strictly  of  divine  institution,  and  there- 
fore we  have  no  right  to  exalt  them  into  the 
same  category  with  the  services  of  the  Sabbath, 
or  to  make  the  observance  or  non-observance  of 
them  a  test  of  Christian  character;  but  that 
they  are,  when  properly  regulated,  and  not 
undu]y  multiplied,  an  important  auxiliary  to 
Christian  growth,  and  a  fitting  antidote  to  a 
spirit  of  worldliness,  none,  it  is  presumed, 
who  have  had  experience,  will  hesitate  to 
affirm.  Will  business  men  encourage  by  their 
presence,  and  as  the  case  may  be,  their  more 
positive  aid,  this  noiseless  but  efficient  instru- 
mentality for  the  promotion  of  the  Church's  spi- 
ritual prosperity  ?  Will  they  endeavor  so  to  ad- 
just their  secular  concerns  during  the  week,  as  to 
leave  time  for  the  weekly  lecture  or  the  weekly 
prayer-meeting,  so  that  this  shall  form  a  part  of 
their  regular  routine  of  duty  ?    Will  they  even 


22  MEN    OF   BUSINESS. 

give  to  these  religious  duties  tlie  precedence 
of  secular  engagements,  when  the  latter  press 
with  more  than  common  urgency ;  thus  at  once 
giving  evidence  of  their  spirituality  and  their 
desire  to  increase  it  ?  Or  will  they  in  their  con- 
duct ignore  the  very  existence  of  these  religious 
exercises ;  and  shall  the  year  open  and  close 
upon  them  without  their  having  so  much  as 
once  joined  in  these  weekly  devotions  of  their 
brethren,  or  heard  these  more  private  teachings 
of  their  pastor  ?  It  is  for  them  to  decide  whe- 
ther they  will  adopt  the  one  course  or  the  other ; 
but  as  they  decide,  it  is  not  too  much  to  expect 
that  the  tone  of  religious  character  around  them 
will  be  elevated  or  depressed;  and  possibly 
their  course  may  involve  the  determination,  so 
far  as  it  rests  with  man  to  determine,  whether 
the  Spirit  shall  come  down  like  the  rain  from 
heaven,  or  whether  the  surrounding  community 
shall  be,  in  a  spiritual  sense,  as  a  dry  and  thirsty 
land  where  no  water  is. 

Let  the  business  men  of  a  church  show  them- 
selves faithful  to  all  their  Christian  obligations ; 
let  them  not  only  attend  regularly  and  devout- 
ly upon  all  the  means  of  grace,  but  keep  their 
hearts  with  all  diligence,  and  resist  the  first  in- 
roads of  a  worldly  spirit  amidst  the  cares  and 


THE   CHURCH.  23 

temptations  incident  to  their  daily  occupations  ; 
let  them,  in  a  word,  show  themselves  decided 
and  earnest  Christians ;  and  they  can  have  no 
adequate  conception  of  the  amount  of  good 
which  they  will  thereby  accomplish.  That 
they  are  placed  in  circumstances  involving  pow- 
erful temptations  to  the  neglect  of  the  more 
spiritual  duties  of  the  Christian  life,  and  some- 
times rendering  these  duties  a  matter  of  great 
difficulty,  can  not  be  denied ;  but  these  very  ad- 
verse circumstances,  by  being  resolutely  and 
successfully  met,  impart  fresh  vigor  to  the  spi-. 
ritual  system ;  just  as  the  physical  powers  are 
braced  and  strengthened  by  exposure  and  toil. 
If  you  will  look  for  the  individual  who  has 
come  nearest  to  the  stature  of  a  perfect  person 
in  Christ,  you  will  be  most  likely  to  find  him 
among  those  who  have  had  to  encounter  the 
greatest  difficulties  in  their  spiritual  course ;  and 
you  will  find  that  his  attainments  are  to  be  re- 
ferred, in  no  small  degree,  to  that  watchful 
care,  that  vigorous  effort,  that  unyielding  reso- 
lution, that  has  been  necessary  to  save  him  from 
falling  under  the  influence  of  temptation. 

If  we  observe  how  large  a  proportion  of  the     y 
members  of  the  Church  consist  of  business  men, 
we  can  not  fail  to  see  that  they  must  have  much 


V 


24  MEN    OF   BUSINESS. 

to  do  in  determining  the  general  tone  of  reli- 
gions feeling  and  action.  Let  tlieni  be  watcli- 
ful  and  earnest  Christians,  and  the  church  to 
which  they  belong  will  give  out  no  feeble  or 
dubious  light.  She  will  be  an  epistle  for 
Christ,  known  and  read  of  all  men.  But  these 
men,  being  thus  conformed  to  a  high  standard 
of  Christian  character,  will  not  live  for  them- 
selves alone — ^they  will  exert  a  mighty  influence 
upon  the  surrounding  world.  Let  it  appear 
that  their  religion  is  an  all-pervading  principle — 
that  they  are  Christians  in  the  week  as  well 
as  on  the  Sabbath — that,  while  they  reverence 
God's  institutions,  and  delight  in  exercises  of 
devotion,  they  never  stoop  to  a  dishonest  or  dis- 
honorable, or  even  doubtful  action,  in  the  pro- 
secution of  their  worldly  business ;  let  them,  I  say, 
thus  let  their  light  shine,  and  I  hazard  nothing  in 
saying  that  the  world  will  not  only  take  know- 
ledge of  them  that  they  have  been  with  Jesus, 
but  will  feel  the  quickening  power  of  their  good 
example.  The  multitude  with  whom  they  are 
brought  in  contact  from  day  to  day,  and  who 
J  witness  their  integrity,  and  humility,  and  de- 
votion, and  especially  their  conscientious  adher- 
ence to  principle,  while  they  are  acted  upon  by 
temptations  that  sweep  others  away,  will  not  be 


THE   CHUKCH.  26 

able  to  resist  tlie  conviction  tliat  their  religion 
is  a  living  reality ;  and  there  is  good  reason  to 
fiope  that  some  of  them  at  least  liiay  open  their 
own  hearts  to  its  renovating  power. 

Blessed  be  God,  Christianity  has  always  had  its 
full  share  of  witnesses  in  the  ranks  of  men  of 
business.  I  might  refer  to  many  noble  examples 
of  this  now  among  the  living — ^men  distinguish- 
ed alike  in  the  walks  of  busy  life,  and  in  the 
walks  of  Christian  life ;  but  I  will  limit  myself 
here  to  a  single  case,  and  that  shall  be  taken  from 
among  those  who  have  already  passed  to  their  re- 
ward. I  refer  to  the  illustrious  John  Thori^ton. 
As  a  business  man,  he  was  at  the  head  of  the 
mercantile  community  in  London.  He  had  a 
hand  in  all  the  great  commercial  movements  of 
the  day.  Probably  there  was  not  a  merchant 
then  living  who,  in  point  of  careful  attention,  of 
honorable  enterprise,  of  splendid  success,  could 
be  regarded  his  superior  ;  and  yet  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  find  among  his  contemporaries 
one  whose  heart  beat  more  warmly  for  the  in- 
terests of  Christ's  kingdom,  or  whose  hand 
moved  more  freely  to  sustain  and  advance  them, 
or  whose  life  was  more  emphatically  a  life  of 
faith  on  the  Son  of  God.  He  not  only  showed 
the  practicability  of  uniting  the  eminent  mer- 


26  MEN   OF   BUSINESS. 

cliant  and  tlie  eminent  Christian,  but  he  left 
behind  him  a  savor  of  piety  that  will  last  as 
long  as  the  world  stands.  IS'ot  every  merchant, 
indeed,  if  he  does  his  best,  can  become  a  Thorn- 
ton ;  but  every  one  may  be  an  active  and  de- 
vout Christian,  and  may  learn  from  the  record 
of  Thornton's  life  how  to  unite  commercial  and 
religious  activity. 

III.  But  I  am  to  consider  the  responsibility  of 
business  men  in  yet  another  aspect — ^I  mean  in  its 
relation  to  the  great  beistevolent  institutions 
OF  THE  AGE.  Thcsc  institutions  may  naturally 
enough  be  divided  into  two  classes  :  those  which 
are  more  immediately  concerned  in  the  propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel,  and  which  are  designed 
to  act  directly  upon  men's  spiritual  and  immortal 
interests,  and  those  which  look  more  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  life  that  now  is — ^that  have  respect 
to  the  intellectual,  social,  and  civil  condition  of 
the  world.  And  there  are  some  that  are  of  a 
mixed  character,  having  regard  to  both  the 
present  and  the  future — ^to  man's  welfare  as  the 
creature  of  a  day,  and  to  the  higher  interests  of 
the  world  to  come.  Indeed  this  is  true  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  of  all  truly  benevolent  institutions  ; 
for  man's  entire  existence  is  a  unit — ^his  entire 


BENEVOLENT   INSTITUTIONS.  2? 

nature  is  a  unit;  and  whatever  is  adapted  to 
subserve  any  of  his  true  interests,  has  an  indi- 
rect bearing  upon  all  of  them. 

In  the  first  of  these  classes  may  be  included  all 
Missionary,  and  Bible,  and  Tract  societies,  and 
other  kindred  institutions,  which,  during  the  last 
half  century  particularly,  have  been  multiplying 
so  rapidly  in  various  parts  of  Protestant  Christen- 
dom, and  making  such  a  vigorous  onset  upon 
the  territories  of  darkness.  To  the  second  class 
belong  all  our  industrial  and  economical  associ- 
ations— all  that  are  designed  to  aid  the  interests 
of  agriculture,  commerce,  or  manufactures — all 
that  contemplate  the  progress  of  the  human  in- 
tellect, the  advancement  of  civilization,  the  per- 
fection of  civil  government,  or  the  mitigation 
and  ultimate  removal  of  any  of  the  great  evils 
incident  to  human  society.  In  respect  to  both 
these  classes,  as  well  as  any  that  are  of  an  inter- 
mediate character,  it  may  safely  be  said  that  the 
burden  of  responsibility  rests  upon  business  men. 

If  we  trace  these  institutions  back  to  theii* 
origin^  we  shall  find  that,  but  for  the  agency  of 
this  class  of  our  citizens,  most  of  them,  to  say 
the  least,  would  never  have  had  an  existence. 
Be  it  so  that  those  associations  that  are  more 
strictly  of  a  religious  character,  have  been  more 


28  MEN    OF   BUSINESS. 

commonly  suggested  and  projected  by  ministers 
of  tlie  Gospel,  yet,  in  almost  every  case,  they 
liave  had  some  of  the  more  active  and  enter- 
prising spirits  in  the  community  associated  with 
them ;  and  the  latter  have  generally  had  quite 
as  much  to  do  as  the  former  in  so  arranging 
things  at  the  outset  as  to  promise  a  successful 
result.  The  skill  and  tact  which  they  have  ac- 
quired in  connection  with  their  business  hab- 
its, have  availed  them  much  in  framing  and  put- 
ting in  motion  systems  of  moral  machinery,  de- 
signed to  operate  for  the  renovation  of  the 
world ;  and  they  have  not  unfrequently  discov- 
ered, in  a  projected  plan,  serious  errors  that 
needed  to  be  corrected,  or  weak  points  that  re- 
quired to  be  strengthened,  which  no  other 
than  a  practised  eye  like  their  own  could  detect. 
But  in  regard  to  those  institutions  which  are  of  a 
more  general  and  secular  character,  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  they  originate  almost  entirely 
with  men  of  business.  The  different  professions 
may  indeed  be  represented  at  their  organiza- 
tion, and  may  sometimes  bear  a  very  important 
part  in  it;  but  if  you  inquire  for  those  who 
have  done  the  most,  you  will  find  that  they  are 
the  men  who  have  left  their  stores  and  ware- 
houses, to  come  and  labor  thus  for  the  public 
weal. 


BENEVOLENT   INSTITUTIONS.  29 

If  we  inquire  further,  on  wliom  devolves  the 
responsibility  of  sustaining  our  benevolent  in- 
stitutions, we  can  reach  no  other  conclusion 
than  that  it  is  upon  our  business  men.  Facts 
prove  abundantly  that  it  is  so,  and  a  moment's 
reflection  will  show  us  why  it  must  be  so.  For, 
in  the  first  place,  these  are  the  men  who  gene- 
rally have  at  their  command  the  means  of 
sustaining  these  institutions.  It  is  with  this 
class  that  much  the  larger  part  of  the  wealth 
of  the  entire  community  is  lodged.  Not 
a  small  portion  of  them,  indeed,  have  begun 
life  with  nothing ;  but  by  industry,  economy, 
perseverance,  they  have  come  in  possession  of  a 
large  estate,  and  every  year  and  every  month 
is  adding  largely  to  it.  And  even  those  who 
are  less  prospered,  are  commonly  able  to  secure 
such  a  competence  as  will  justify  them  in  the 
indulgence  of  a  benevolent  spirit  towards  at 
least  some  of  the  great  objects  which  solicit 
their  aid.  But  while  these  are  the  men  who 
have  generally  the  means  to  bestow,  they  are 
those  also  who,  from  their  peculiar  circumstan- 
ces, are  most  likely  to  be  willing  to  bestow 
them.  There  are,  indeed,  some  rich  men  who 
have  retired  from  business,  and  I  may  add, 
some  who  were  never  engaged  in  active  busi- 


30  MEN    OF   BUSINESS. 

ness,  wlio  evince  a  noble  spirit  of  liberality,  and 
keep  themselves  almost  as  busy  as  tlie  busiest 
in  dispensing  the  bounties  which  Providence 
has  intrusted  to  them.  But  it  must  be  acknow- 
ledged that  these  are  exceptions  from  the  general 
rule.  It  much  more  frequently  happens  that,  if 
you  approach  the  man  who  has  retired  upon  a 
large  estate,  with  an  application  for  charity,  you 
will  find  him  with  his  hand  clenched  against  the 
claims  of  your  object,  or  if  he  opens  it  at  all,  it 
will  be  sparingly,  and  grudgingly,  and  to  little 
purpose.  Such  a  man,  no  matter  how  large  his 
regular  income  may  be,  feels  that  his  machinery 
for  making  money  has  stopped,  and  that  natu- 
rally makes  his  benevolent  pulsations  more  slug- 
gish ;  whereas,  on  the  other  hand,  the  man  who 
is  still  actively  and  prosperously  engaged  in 
worldly  concerns,  can  give  away  even  profusely, 
and  yet  take  but  little  note  of  it,  because  he 
confidently  expects  that  what  he  gives  will 
quickly  be  made  up  to  him  in  the  ordinary  rou- 
tine of  his  business  engagements.  I  have  my  eye 
upon  a  man  at  this  moment  whose  unceasing  ac- 
tivity in  his  worldly  calling  is  not  exceeded  by 
that  of  any  other  man  I  know,  and  yet  whoever 
approaches  him  for  pecuniary  aid — ^whether  it 
be  the  beggar,  for  money  to  pay  for  his  night's 


BENEVOLENT   INSTITUTIONS.  31 

lodging,  or  the  agent  for  some  great  scheme  of 
public  beneficence,  asking  for  thousands — ^his 
heart  and  hand  are  always  open,  and  his  very 
countenance  shows  that  it  is  no  self-denial  to 
him  to  be  charitable.  I  can  think  of  another 
man  who  used,  when  he  was  at  the  head  of  a 
great  commercial  establishment,  to  be  accounted 
liberal ;  at  any  rate,  I  know  that  many  indivi- 
duals and  several  institutions  were  the  better 
for  his  benefactions ;  but  having  made  his  for- 
tune, he  has  retired  to  enjoy  it ;  his  mind  and 
body  have  together  become  inactive  ;  his  hand 
will  now  scarcely  open  even  to  the  imploring 
voice  of  suffering ;  in  short,  he  has  sunk  into  u^ 
the  indolent  and  sensual  enjoyment  of  himself 
This  latter  may  indeed  be  an  extreme  case ;  but 
it  is  a  fair  representation  of  a  large  class  of 
cases,  so  far  as  respects  the  chilling  influence  of 
the  change  from  an  active  to  an  inactive  life, 
upon  public  spirit  or  Christian  beneficence. 

And  here  I  can  not  but  drop  a  word  in  the 
way  of  protest  against  the  practice  which  has 
uever  been  uncommon,  and  which  certaioly  is 
not  now  upon  the  wane,  of  men  who  have  been 
largely  engaged  in  commercial  or  other  business, 
when  they  have  reached  a  certain  point,  settling 
down  into  a  state  of  inactivity,  in  order  to  en- 


82  MEN    OF   BUSINESS. 

joy  their  fortunes.  I  do  not  mean  tliat  it  is  not 
perfectly  proper  that  men  who  have  for  many 
years  led  a  busy  life,  and  been  much  engrossed 
by  worldly  care,  should  in  process  of  time, 
relax  from  their  severe  labors,  and  even  avail 
themselves  of  the  facilities  for  comparative  re- 
pose, which  their  successful  enterprise  may  have 
secured  to  them.  Still  less  do  I  mean  to  inti- 
mate that  they  are  bound  always  to  continue  in 
the  same  vocation ;  or  that  they  may  not  even, 
in  the  technical  sense  of  the  phrase,  "  retire 
from  business,"  and  still  have  an  abundance  of 
useful  occupation.  What  I  would  bear  testi- 
mony against  is  a  deliberate  settling  down,  in 
the  midst  of  a  profusion  of  this  world's  bounties, 
with  nothing  to  do.  The  evils  connected  with 
this  are  manifold.  The  man  who  has  been  active 
for  half  a  century  can  not,  if  his  various  faculties 
are  spared  to  him,  form  a  habit  of  inactivity 
then,  without  making  himself  wretched.  The 
mind  that  has  so  long  been  kept  bright,  can  not 
be  left  to  rust,  the  hands  that  have  so  long  been 
kept  busy,  can  not  be  habitually  idle,  but  that 
the  curse  that  always  hangs  upon  the  footsteps 
of  indolence  will  quickly  begin  to  develop  it- 
self. Presently  you  may  expect  that  a  morose 
and  impatient  spirit  will  imprint  itself  upon  the 


BENEVOLENT   INSTITUTIONS.  33 

countenance  and  breathe  throiigli  tlie  lips ;  and 
at  no  distant  period,  you  need  not  marvel,  if  tlie 
man  wlio  went  into  retirement  to  enjoy  liis  for- 
tune, should  be  found  taking  on  tbe  character 
of  a  misanthrope  or  a  hermit.  And  then  let  it 
not  be  forgotten  that  this  man  has  resting  upon 
him  obligations  to  society,  obligations  to  the 
Church,  obligations  to  God,  as  truly  as  when 
his  faculties  were  kept  in  vigorous  exercise ;  and 
what  sort  of  material  for  his  final  reckoning  is 
that  which  he  is  accumulating  by  this  habit  of  y 
indolent,  selfish,  I  may  say  brutish,  indulgence  ? 
It  is  to  be  reckoned  among  the  propitious 
signs  of  the  times,  that  the  spirit  of  Christian 
liberality  and  public  enterprise  is  constantly 
assuming  a  more  vigorous  tone,  and  promises  to 
become  ultimately  the  reigning  spirit  of  the 
business  community.  Who  are  they  who,  when 
our  great  missionary  institutions  are  ready  to 
falter  in  their  operations,  if  not  absolutely  t(3 
stand  still,  are  most  ready  to  step  forward,  and 
by  their  subscriptions  of  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands, to  put  the  machinery  at  work  again  even 
more  vigorously  and  effectively  than  ever? 
They  are  our  business  men.  Who  are  they  who 
are  most  ready  to  sustain  hospitals  for  the  sick, 
and  almshouses  for  the  poor,  and  to  make  the 


34  MEN   OF   BUSINESS. 

prisoner's  life  a  process  of  reform,  and  to  carry 
into  Ms  cell  as  many  comforts  as  may  consist 
with  tlie  legitimate  operation  of  tlie  penal  sen- 
tence ?  They  are  our  business  men.  Who  are 
they  that  sustain  the  great  interests  of  educa- 
tion and  public  improvement — ^that  plant  col- 
leges, and^endow  professorships,  and  build  ob- 
servatories by  which  heaven  and  earth  are 
brought  into  new  relations  with  each  other? 
Here  again,  I  answer,  they  are  our  business 
men.  There  are  on  every  side  of  us  princes  in 
liberality  as  well  as  in  wealth ;  men  to  whom 
the  mere  presentation  of  any  object  of  pub- 
lic importance  is  a  sufficient  pledge  that  it 
shall  be  provided  for  ;  men  who  greatly  lighten 
the  burden  of  solicitation  by  keeping  an  eye 
out  and  a  hand  open  for  every  great  exi- 
gency ;  and  there  is  everything  to  indicate  that 
these  mighty  men  in  the  walks  of  beneficence 
wiE  increase,  until  the  world  shall  brighten  into 
a  great  field  of  millenial  glory. 

I  may  be  allowed  to  remark  in  this  connection, 
that  there  is  probably  nothing  that  interferes 
more  with  a  due  regard  to  objects  of  benevo- 
lence on  the  part  of  men  of  business,  than  the 
mistaken  idea  that  the  interests  of  their  children 
will  be  promoted  by  their  being  left  rich.     It  is 


BENEVOLENT   INSTITUTIONS.  35 

wonderful  how  mucli  the  sagacity  of  men  who 
are  acknowledged  to  be  shrewd  on  all  other  sub- 
jects, fails  them  on  this.  They  repose  in  the 
general  idea  that  riches  contribute  to  happiness, 
while  they  overlook  the  fact  that  happiness  has 
its  foundation  in  character,  and  that  whatever 
affects  that  favorably  or  unfavorably,  has  a  cor- 
responding effect  upon  the  general  well-being  of 
the  individual.  Now  let  us  see  how  the  matter 
stands  in  regard  to  the  case  we  are  contemplat- 
ing. God  has  supplied  to  us  the  elements  of 
our  character  in  the  faculties  he  has  given  us ; 
but  the  character  is  formed  in  the  directing  and 
moulding  of  these  faculties ;  and  this  is  the  ap- 
propriate business  of  education.  The  great 
object  to  be  aimed  at  in  the  training  of  a  child 
is  to  lead  him  to  exercise  his  faculties  vigorously 
and  in  the  right  direction ;  for  it  matters  not 
though  he  should  possess  the  original  powers  of 
a  Newton  or  an  Edwards,  it  is  impossible  that 
he  should  be  either  great  or  good  without  be- 
coming used  to  high  intellectual  and  moral 
effort.  But  do  we  expect  either  men  or  child- 
ren to  exert  themselves  without  a  motive  ?  And 
do  we  not  expect  that  in  proportion  to  the 
strength  of  the  motive  will  be  the  amount  of 
effort  ?     And  is  it  not  true  that  children  who 


36  MEN   OF   BUSINESS. 

are  trained  to  tlie  expectancy  of  a  large  estate, 
are  placed  in  circumstances  tliat  are  fitted  to  cut 
tlie  very  sinews  of  even  a  naturally  active  and 
resolute  spirit  ?  The  first  thouglit  tliat  occurs 
to  them  is  that  they  have  no  need  to  submit  to 
the  drudgery  of  hard  labor  for  their  subsist- 
ence; and  this  naturally  generates  a  spirit  of 
idleness;  and  in  the  track  of  idleness  usually 
follows  ignorance,  and  not  unfrequently  vice, 
and  ultimately  ruin.  Children  of  this  class, 
though  they  may  congratulate  themselves,  and 
be  congratulated  by  others,  upon  their  easy  con- 
dition, are  generally  more  to  be  pitied  than  the 
children  of  the  humblest  peasant,  who  has  no- 
thing to  give  them  but  his  blessing.  I  speak 
Avith  confidence  on  this  subject,  because  there  is 
such  a  long  record  of  facts  spread  out  before 
me.  There  are  instances,  I  acknowledge,  in 
which  children  who  have  inherited  large  estates, 
have  been  saved  from  the  temptations  incident 
to  such  a  lot,  and  have  made  their  riches  tribu- 
tary to  reputation,  usefulness,  even  true  great- 
ness. But  the  cases  are  incomparably  more 
numerous  in  which  such  children  grow  up  witli 
an  incubus  upon  their  faculties,  which  they  never 
throw  off,  and  actually  live  and  die  like  useless, 
perhaps   noxious,  weeds   in   a   luxuriant   soil ; 


BENEVOLENT   INSTITUTIONS.  ^7 

while  much  the  greater  part  of  those  who  occu- 
py the  highest  places  of  influence  and  honor  in 
the  different  walks  of  society,  have  known  from 
the  beginning  what  it  was  to  depend  upon  their 
own  efforts,  and  not  unfrequently  have  struggled 
up  to  the  eminence  they  occupy,  through  bar- 
riers which,  to  an  irresolute  mind,  would  have 
seemed  absolutely  insurmountable. 

I  will  venture  a  word  of  counsel  to  the  opulent 
business  man  who  is  about  to  make  his  will.  By 
all  means,  take  proper  care  for  your  own  family ; 
for  the  wife  who  has  been  associated  with  you  in 
bearing  life's  burdens ;  for  the  children  of  whom 
you  are  the  divinely  constituted  guardian,  and 
some  of  whom  not  improbably  may  be  entirely 
dependent  on  the  provision  you  make  for  them ; 
and  perhaps  for  other  relatives  also,  whose  ne- 
cessitous condition  may  justly  entitle  them  to 
share  in  your  beneficence.  But  forget  not  that 
there  are  great  objects  of  religious  and  public 
interest,  to  which  even  a  small  portion  of  your 
wealth  would  be  a  most  acceptable  offering,  and 
say  whether  it  were  not  better  to  appropriate  a 
portion  to  these,  than  to  multiply  the  tempta- 
tions to  your  children  to  a  life  of  ignoble  ease, 
perhaps  of  profligacy,  terminating  in  ruin.  Be- 
fore you  perform  this  important  duty,  let  your 


y 


N/ 


88  MEN    OF   BUSINESS. 

judgment,  enligMened  and  unbiased,  have  its 
perfect  work ;  let  your  conscience  be  quickened 
to  its  higbest  tone  of  sensibility ;  let  your  mind 
expand  to  take  in  the  future  as  well  as  tbe  pre- 
sent ;  and  above  all,  let  your  spirit  be  in  com- 
munion witb  tbe  God  of  all  counsel  and  wisdom, 
and  tben  I  will  not  fear  to  contemplate  tbe  re- 
sult— ^I  will  not  fear  tbat  you  will  forget  to 
make  provision  for  perpetuating  your  good  in- 
fluence after  you  bave  fallen  asleep. 

But  business  men  bave  mucb  to  do  in  direct- 
ing^ as  well  as  in  sustaining,  our  benevolent  in- 
stitutions ;  tbeir  quick  discernment,  tbeir  wis- 
dom, tbeir  tact,  to  tbe  cultivation  of  wbicb 
tbeir  babits  of  life  are  so  favorable,  are  as  ne- 
cessary to  give  to  tbese  institutions  tbeir  rigbt 
direction,  and  secure  tbeir  legitimate  results,  as 
is  tbeir  money  to  keep  tbem  in  vigorous  opera- 
tion. Tbere  is  a  certain  kind  of  practical 
knowledge  wbicb  men  engaged  in  active  busi- 
ness acquire,  but  wbicb  is  not  so  easily  gained 
by  any  of  tbe  professions,  tbat  may  be  turned  to 
good  account  in  any  of  tbe  departments  of  be- 
nevolent activity.  Hence  it  will  be  found,  even 
in  respect  to  tbose  institutions  tbat  are  more 
immediately  of  a  religious  character,  and  in 
wbicb  ministers  of  tbe  Gospel  are  commonly  ex- 


BENEVOLENT  INSTITUTIONS.  39 

pected  to  take  the  lead,  that  in  their  general 
management  great  reliance  is  placed  on  the 
common  sense  and  sagacity  of  onr  enterpris- 
ing merchants;  and  in  cases  of  great  diffi- 
culty and  embarrassment,  such  is  the  confidence 
reposed  in  them,  that  there  are  few  who  hesi- 
tate to  defer  to  their  judgment.  Who  that  has 
been  accustomed  to  attend  the  anniversaries  of 
our  benevolent  institutions,  does  not  remember 
more  than  one  case  in  which  this  remark  has 
had  a  striking  exemplification  ?  A  great  mis- 
sionary society,  for  instance — ^perhaps  owing  to 
some  unexpected  change  of  circumstances,  pos- 
sibly to  a  disposition  to  walk  too  fast  or  too  far 
by  faith  in  the  liberality  of  the  Church,  has  be- 
come crippled  in  its  movements,  and  has  well 
nigh  come  to  a  stand,  and  how  it  is  to  recover 
itself  is  a  problem  of  which  no  one  is  forward  to 
venture  a  solution.  At  length,  an  individual 
whose  voice  is  perhaps  rarely  heard  in  a  public 
meeting,  rises  and  suggests  some  measure  by  way 
of  relief,  which,  though  it  may  involve  great  effort 
and  liberal  contributions,  is  favorably  respond- 
ed to  by  one  and  another,  until,  after  being  duly 
considered  and  discussed,  it  is  carried  by  accla- 
mation. And  in  due  time  it  takes  effect,  and 
that  noble  society  whose  fortunes  had  a  little 


40  MEN    OF   BUSINESS. 

})efore  seemed  dubious,  is  now  moving  forward 
again  witli  tlie  majesty  of  a  ship  beneath  a  glori- 
ous sky,  with,  every  sail  filled  with  a  favoring 
breeze.  Now  let  us  look  and  see  by  wbat  instru- 
mentality all  tliis  lias  been  accomplished.  The 
man  who  rose  in  that  meeting,  and  proposed  the 
measure,  and  gave  the  impulse  in  favor  of  relief, 
is  at  home  in  a  counting-room,  and  a  more  busy 
merchant  than  he  you  will  rarely  meet  with. 
The  man  who  seconded  the  motion,  and  those 
who  followed,  giving  it  their  cordial  support, 
were  all,  like  the  originator,  men  of  business — 

^  discreet,  liberal,  sound-hearted  merchants.  They 
determined  first  what  ought  to  be,  and  then  de- 
termined what  should  be ;  and  then  took  care 
that  what  they  had  decreed  should  come  to 
pass.     Had  it  not  been  for  their  timely  inter- 

5^  position,  their  skill  in  devising,  their  liberality 
in  executing,  who  can  say  how  many  heathen 
might  have  died  without  the  knowledge  of  a 
Saviour,  who  will  now  walk  firmly  through  the 
dark  valley,  knowing  in  whom  they  have  be- 
lieved ? 

I  confess  that,  as  I  have  advanced  in  this 

v/  course  of  thought,  my  respect,  I  may  say  rever- 
ence, for  business  men,  and  my  estimate  of  the 
importance  which  attaches  to  them  as  a  class, 


BENEVOLENT  INSTITUTIONS.  41 

has  been  growing  Mglier  and  higlier.  1  can 
not  but  ask  myself,  what  would  the  govern- 
ment do,  what  would  the  Church  do,  what 
would  our  benevolent  institutions  do,  without 
them  ?  And  yet  truth  constrains  me  to  say  that 
not  a  small  proportion  of  this  class  are  absorb- 
ed in  selfish  enjoyment,  having  little  sympathy 
with  any  of  the  great  interests  of  humanity. 
There  are  thousands  who  are  traitors  to  the 
government,  not  merely  by  casting  their  vote 
for  bad  rulers,  and  sacrificing  at  the  shrine  of 
party  spirit,  but  by  defrauding  the  public  reve- 
nue— sometimes  even  at  the  expense  of  deliberate 
perjury.  There  are  other  thousands,  who,  with 
their  names  enrolled  on  the  list  of  church  mem- 
bers, scruple  not  to  take  an  unjustifiable  advan- 
tage of  their  neighbors,  or  to  regard  the  claims 
of  business  as  paramount  to  the  claims  of  reli- 
gion, or  to  make  the  cause  of  Christ  bleed  by 
their  habitual  insensibility  to  Divine  things. 
And  there  are  other  thousands  still — ^though  per- 
haps they  can  scarcely  be  considered  as  forming 
a  separate  class — at  whose  doors  the  various  ob- 
jects of  Christian  benevolence  and  public  in- 
terest knock  and  plead  in  vain  ;  who  are  always 
haunted  and  scared  by  visions  of  poverty  at 
home,  as  often  as  they  are  asked  to  contemplate 


42  MEN    OF   BUSINESS. 

the  condition  of  the  destitute  abroad,  while  for 
their  own  personal  and  selfish  gratification  they 
can  be  free  even  to  profuseness.  From  my 
heart  I  pity  all  these  men,  and  I  pity  them  the 
more  in  proportion  to  their  prosperity ;  for  if 
there  is  not  found  a  moth  in  their  treasures, 
their  treasures  will  certainly  prove  a  moth  to 
their  enjoyment.  I  blame  them  not  for  their 
activity  in  business,  but  I  blame  them  for  not 
making  it  subservient  to  higher  and  better  in- 
terests ;  I  blame  them  for  forgetting  that  both 
God  and  man  have  claims  upon  them,  which, 
however  they  may  repudiate  them  now,  will 
come  with  fearful  urgency  upon  their  conscience 
another  day. 

In  writing  these  pages  I  have  not  been  able 
to  keep  out  of  my  thoughts  one  living  example 
of  a  business  man,  whom  I  have  the  privilege 
to  number  among  my  friends,  and  whose  fine 
character  is  worthy  alike  of  being  admired  and 
imitated.  I  may  speak  of  him  first  as  I  have 
seen  him  at  home — ^the  head  of  a  lovely  and 
loving  family,  where  every  thing  moves  for- 
ward in  obedience  to  "  Heaven's  first  law ;" 
where  there  is  a  constant  ministration  and  inter- 
change of  parental,  and  conjugal,  and  filial 
affection ;  where  no  harsh  or  bitter  word  ever 


BENEVOLENT   INSTITUTIONS.  48 

grates  upon  the  ear,  and  the  whole  domestic 
atmosphere  is  perfumed  with  love.  But  I  think 
of  him  now  more  particularly  as  a  beautiful 
illustration  of  the  several  topics  of  which  I 
have  been  treating.  I  can  not  say  what  his 
politics  are,  other  than  that  they  are  the  poli- 
tics of  a  true  patriot.  He  loves  his  country  in- 
tensely, and  considers  well  all  her  great  in- 
terests. He  abominates  the  blustering  dema- 
gogue, but  reverences  the  enlightened  and 
faithful  ruler.  He  ponders  with  religious  con- 
sideration his  duties  as  a  citizen,  and  faithfully 
does  he  discharge  them,  no  matter  whether  his 
time,  or  his  money,  or  his  influence,  may  be  re- 
quired. He  scorns  to  be  the  slave  of  a  party, 
and  is  as  quick  to  discountenance  evil  in  friends 
as  in  foes.  And  shall  I  say  what  he  is  in  his 
relations  to  the  Church  ?  Why,  in  one  word, 
he  is  an  active,  consistent,  devoted  member  of 
it.  No  matter  in  what  circumstances  he  may 
be  placed,  his  light  never  shines  dimly,  even  for 
an  hour.  In  the  prayer-meeting,  and  in  other 
occasional  religious  exercises,  his  minister  is 
sure  to  feel  strong  when  he  sees  him  there. 
He  is  always  ready,  but  never  obtrusive;  al- 
ways edifying,  but  never  tedious;  always  dis- 
creet, but   never  time-serving.     And   he  is   a 


44  MElSr   OF   BUSINESS. 

Christian  in  tlie  counting-room  as  truly  as  in 
the  lecture-room ;  a  Christian  in  making  a  bar- 
gain as  truly  as  in  hearing  a  Bible-class,  or  dis- 
tributing the  elements  at  the  communion.  You 
never  hear  of  his  carrying  the  week  into  the 
Sabbath,  though  he  carries  mach  of  the  Sabbath 
into  the  week ;  and  so  far  from  violating  that 
sacred  day  to  return  to  his  family  when  they 
are  well,  he  would  at  least  pause  and  require 
that  it  should  be  an  extreme  case,  before  he 
would  consent  to  patronize  any  of  the  Sabbath- 
desecrating  conveyances,  even  if  they  were  sick. 
V  And  there  is  not  a  more  liberal  and  efficient 
patron  than  he  of  the  benevolent  institutions 
of  the  day.  His  large  pecuniary  means  he  evi- 
dently holds  as  a  steward  who  must  give  an 
account.  His  hand  is  always  open  to  every  good 
object  that  solicits  his  aid.  His  voice  is  often 
heard,  his  wisdom  is  often  displayed,  when  grave 
matters  connected  with  the  operations  of  bene- 
volence are  discussed.  The  frosts  of  nearly 
threescore  and  ten  winters  have  left  his  powers 
of  mind  and  body  alike  untouched.  I  might 
say  much  more  of  his  excellence  and  his  useful- 
ness, and  still  leave  the  picture  unfinished.  I 
might  have  hesitated  to  write  thus  concern- 
ing a  living  man,  but  for  the  conviction  I  have 


BENEVOLENT   INSTITUTIONS.  45 

that,  whoever  else  may  recognize  the  original, 
Ms  modesty  will  keep  down  all  suspicion. 

I  would  that  this  subject  might  be  duly  pon- 
dered and  applied,  especially  by  our  young  men 
of  business.  I  would  that,  at  the  very  com- 
mencement of  their  career,  they  might  form  the 
decided  Christian  purpose  to  be  true  to  the 
government  under  which  they  live  ;  true  to  the 
Church  of  Christ ;  true  to  the  cause  of  benevo- 
lence; true  to  all  the  best  interests  of  both 
worlds.  Then  will  they  live  an  honored  and 
happy  life,  and  posterity  will  utter  words  of 
reverence  and  thankfulness  around  their  graves. 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS 


THEIR   PERPLEXITIES  AND  TEMPTATIONS. 


STEPHEN  IL  TYNG,  D.D. 


THE 


OF     THE 

MAN    OF    BUSINESS. 


No  view  of  the  present  life  of  man  can  ever 
be  satisfactory,  which  separates  it  from  the  re- 
sponsibilities and  results  of  a  life  to  come.  Wo 
must  regard  it  as  an  arrangement  of  means  to 
an  end ;  as  an  inferior  state  of  being  which  has 
been  appointed  as  an  education  for  some  higher 
condition  that  lies  beyond ;  as  a  temporary  pas- 
sage of  warfare,  a  contest  with  foes  and  difficul- 
ties in  the  way,  encouraged  by  the  hope  of 
victory,  and  of  the  results  of  victory  at  the 
close.  It  is  to  be  considered,  not  as  a  voluntary 
but  as  a  necessary  state  of  being ;  a  dispensation, 
a  prearrangement  for  man,  in  the  continuance 
and  ordering  of  which  he  is  altogether  passive ; 
in  which  his  Divine  Creator  has  fixed  the  bounds 


2  PERPLEXITIES   AND   TEMPTATIONS 

of  his  habitation,  and  holds  him  in  its  endurance 
and  accomplishment,  according  to  his  own  will. 

The  acknowledgment  and  remembrance  of 
this  divine  providence  and  control,  we  must 
never  exclude.  By  its  foresight  and  direction 
every  particular  scene  and  element  of  this  pre- 
paratory discipline  is  arranged  and  overruled  to 
the  minutest  extent  of  application.  And  every 
work  and  every  secret  thing,  whether  it  be  good 
or  whether  it  be  evil,  is  to  be  brought  before 
the  divine  judgment  at  the  close  of  life. 

The  question  of  personal  relation  to  this 
scheme  of  trial,  of  actual  endurance  of  its  ap- 
pointed operation,  or  of  individual  responsibility 
for  its  results,  is  not  submitted  to  the  choice  of 
man.  We  are  here  to  carry  out  the  plan  of 
personal  education  which  God  has  devised  for  us, 
and  to  finish,  with  a  fidelity  which  is  voluntary, 
and  for  which  he  has  promised  an  ample  recom- 
pense, the  successive  parts  of  the  obligation 
which  he  has  imposed.  We  are  here  a  spectacle 
to  angels  and  to  men.  We  bear  a  commission, 
and  are  intrusted  with  a  stewardship,  in  which 
the  great  object  for  us  is  that  we  be  found  faith- 
ful. Here  our  warfare  is  to  be  accomplished. 
Here  our  abiding  character  is  to  be  formed. 
Here  motives  and  principles  of  action  are  to  be 


OF   THE   MAN   OF   BUSmESS.  3 

adopted,  regulated,  and  settled.  Here  the  line 
of  our  unending  moral  being  is  to  be  laid  out, 
and  our  spiritual  nature  to  be  prepared  for  tlie 
exercise  of  the  powers  and  privileges  of  its  ma- 
turity. 

TMs  is  tlie  divine  appointment.  And  how- 
ever inconvenient  or  pressing  may  be  the  con- 
stituent elements  of  this  scheme  of  education 
and  trial  in  any  particular  case,  man  can  not  re- 
fuse or  escape  them.  What  can  he  gain  by 
rebelling  against  that  Being  "  in  whose  hand  his 
breath  is,  and  whose  are  all  his  ways"  ?  He  is  to 
finish,  as  an  hireling,  his  day.  His  duty  and  his 
privilege  combine  to  urge  him  to  complete  his 
appointed  work  with  assiduity  and  cheerfulness, 
faithful  to  his  trust  and  conscious  of  the  gains  and 
advantages  of  his  fidelity.  His  perplexities  and 
temptations  are  part  of  the  great  plan  of  instruc- 
tion and  guidance  for  him  in  the  path  of  duty. 
And  his  happiness  and  his  success  in  all  the  great 
ends  and  attainments  of  life,  will  depend  upon 
his  holding  fast  this  commanding  thought  of  the 
divine  authority  and  his  own  resulting  responsi- 
bility, in  its  serious  practical  influence  upon  his 
whole  career. 

This  theory  of  human  life  is  of  universal  ap- 
plication.    In  the  general  facts  of  their  trial 


4  PEEPLEXITIES   AND   TEMPTATIONS 

and  contest,  whatever  may  "be  the  variety  of 
their  circumstances,  all  men  are  equally  engaged. 
Order,  employment,  and  industry  are  the  un- 
changeable requisitions  of  the  great  Ruler  of 
them  all.  In  whatever  particular  scene  or  rela- 
tion of  this  immense  area  of  human  duty,  any 
individual  man  may  have  been  placed,  he  has 
no  time  or  energies  to  waste  in  barren  contem- 
plations or  complaints  of  the  comparative  differ- 
ence and  inequality  observed  among  them.  His 
simple  province  is  to  take  heed  to  the  ministry 
which  he  has  personally  received,  and  to  fulfill 
that,  remembering  that  the  rule  for  all  is,  "  he 
that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least,  is  faithful 
also  in  much ;  and  he  that  is  unjust  in  the  least, 
is  unjust  also  in  much."  The  comparative  im- 
portance of  particular  lines  of  duty,  or  stations 
of  trust,  he  can  never  adequately  estimate.  The 
smallest  pin,  or  the  most  unnoticed  wheel  in  a 
great  machine,  may  possibly  be  the  very  one,  on 
the  tenacity  or  regularity  of  which  in  its  assign- 
ed position,  the  harmony  and  success  of  the 
whole  depend. 

The  world  in  which  we  dwell  is  no  place  for 
idlers.  Its  occupations  and  toils  are  accumu- 
lated and  pressing  on  each  of  its  inhabitants. 
Every  individual  has  a  distinct  duty  to  perform, 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  5 

a  separate  work  to  fulfill,  wliich.  lie  alone  can 
accomplisli.  It  is  tlie  order  of  providence  as 
really  as  it  is  tlie  precept  of  revelation,  wMcli 
requires  every  man  to  be  "  not  slothful  in  busi- 
ness, but  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  tlie  Lord." 
Every  agency  is  in  motion.  Every  living  being 
here  is  active  and  engaged.  In  proportion  to 
the  advantages  of  civilization  surrounding,  are 
the  demands  for  individual  industry  and  effort. 
Exaltation  in  condition  is  habitually  but  an  in- 
crease of  toil.  Striving,  struggling,  inventing, 
contriving,  executing  are  the  inseparable  cha- 
racteristics of  the  present  condition  of  man. 
The  most  self-indulgent  in  intention  is  often  the 
hardest  worked  in  fact.  A  life  of  purposed 
gratification  is  habitually  a  life  of  experienced 
disappointment  and  sorrow.  And  the  happiest 
and  the  most  peaceful  man  is  he  who  in  faithful 
contentment,  the  most  thoroughly  fills  up  the 
measure  of  his  work,  and  occupies  the  most 
completely  the  whole  circumference  of  his  re- 
lations. 

The  scale  of  human  occupation  is  immensely 
extended  and  varied.  It  presents  a  series  of 
innumerable  gradations.  But  the  lowest  is  not 
less  busy  in  the  order  of  his  place  than  the 
highest.     And  the  highest  is  no  more  free  from 


6  PERPLEXITIES   AND    TEMPTATIONS 

the  obligation  of  necessary  toil  tlian  the  lowest. 
The  necessity  for  habitual,  constant  labor  is  the 
universal  rule,  and  there  are  no  exceptions.  We 
are  far  from  speaking  of  this  fact  as  an  evil.  In- 
deed we  may  consider  it  one  of  the  kindest 
arrangements  of  the  Creator's  wisdom.  To  earn 
and  eat  his  bread  with  the  sweat  of  his  brow, 
while  it  has .  been  the  result,  is  also,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  restraint  and  the  remedy  of  the  sin 
and  folly  of  man.  It  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  an 
infirmity,  but  as  an  advantage  in  his  condition. 
In  the  sinfulness  of  human  nature,  the  obligation 
to  toil  is  the  security  of  excellence.  The  bur- 
den of  labor  is  the  strength  of  virtue.  Man 
finds  himself  equally  guarded  from  moral  evil, 
and  excited  and  prepared  for  moral  improve- 
ment and  gain,  by  the  inevitable  law  of  his  be- 
ing, that  every  valuable  harvest  which  he  may 
reap,  must  be  the  fruit  of  industry  alone,  and 
that  nothing  but  thorns  and  thistles  can  be  the 
product  of  his  idleness  and  neglect. 

Every  man  therefore  becomes  in  the  necessity 
of  his  condition,  a  man  of  business,  engaged  in 
the  affairs  of  this  life.  His  enterprises  and  in- 
vestments may  endlessly  vary,  in  their  fields, 
their  substance,  and  their  extent.  But  be  they 
more  or  less,  grander  or  more  limited  in  their 


OF   THE  MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  7 

scale,  the  great  law  wMch  governs  tlie  whole 
can  not  be  changed.  It  is  the  order  of  man's 
present  being,  the  necessity  of  his  nature  and 
condition,  to  strive  and  toil  in  his  appointed  lot 
from  the  beginning  to  the  ending  of  his  days, 
and  he  can  not  avoid  it.  His  warfare  has  been 
laid  out  before  him,  and  he  must  accomplish  it. 
His  duty  and  his  destiny  are  in  the  labors  and 
contests  of  this  necessary  condition.  And  in 
vain,  under  any  pressure  of  weariness,  or  rising 
of  rebellion  beneath  his  load,  does  he  endeavor 
to  be  free. 

The  remembrance  of  this  oi^ily  just  theory  of 
human  life  is  of  incalculable  importance.  It  is 
not  a  final  growth.  It  is  ijot  an  end  or  object 
in  itself.  It  is  in  every  step  a  progress  towards 
another  and  a  future  scene  of  experience  and 
display.  It  is  a  contest  for  a  peace  and  a  con- 
nected inheritance,  which  are  yet  to  be  revealed. 
It  is  a  training  in  a  patient  continuance  in  well- 
doing, for  glory,  honor,  and  immortality.  It  is 
a  temporary  service  of  a  high  and  heavenly 
Master,  in  duties  which  he  has  himself  pre- 
scribed, and  the  recompense  for  which  is  to  be 
awarded  in  another  and  far  more  exalted  state 
than  this.  It  is  a  probation,  a  test  and  trial 
state,  in  which  great  principles  are  to  be  the 


8  PERPLEXITIES    AND   TEMPTATIONS 

subjects  of  experiment  even  in  the  narrowest 
condition,  and  constant  and  accurate  records 
are  to  be  made  of  tlie  experiments  as  they 
proceed,  and  the  full  and  final  results  of  them 
are  hereafter  to  be  declared.  "  Like  a  refiner 
and  purifier  of  silver,"  does  the  great  Judge 
and  controller  of  all  "  sit,"  watching  with  infal- 
lible precision,  the  operation  which  he  has  in- 
stituted, and  bringing  out  with  no  mixture  of 
error  or  alloy  the  result  which  he  has  designed. 
This  is  equally  true  of  every  condition  of  hu- 
man life.  The  differences  of  human  condition.^, 
when  compared  with  that  relation  to  God  and  to 
eternity  which  is  common  to  them  all,  are  ex- 
tremely trifling  and  unimportant.  The  fixed  ha- 
bit of  the  mind  of  setting  the  Lord  always  before 
it,  of  doing  all  things  as  in  his  sight,  of  remem- 
bering the  account  which  is  to  be  given  to  him 
of  each  hour,  and  of  each  work  of  every  pass- 
ing day,  and  of  maintaining  a  conscience  void  of 
offense  towards  him  in  every  relation  in  which 
he  has  placed  us,  exalts  the  lowest  earthly  em- 
ployment into  a  heavenly  calling,  and  makes 
the  most  extended  scene  of  earthly  interest 
seem  in  itself  a  very  little  thing.  "Perfect 
peace"  is  the  characteristic  and  enjoyment  of 
the  mind  that  is  fixed  on  God.     Happiness  for 


OF   THE    MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  9 

man  is  invariably  the  shadow  of  duty.  To 
make  the  attainment  of  personal  happiness  our 
object  in  life,  is  but  pursuing  the  shadow.  We 
lose  the  object  for  which  we  strive,  and  waste 
our  time  and  strength  in  vain.  True  enjoyment 
is  only  to  be  found  in  the  faithful  discharge  of 
our  individual  responsibility.  While  we  strive 
and  labor  earnestly  and  assiduously  in  our  ap- 
pointed work,  our  happiness,  without  an  ef 
fort  of  our  own  to  secure  it,  becomes  the  actual 
and  habitual  attendant,  and  our  daily  advanc- 
ing experience  displays  to  us  the  fact  that  to  use 
the  world,  and  to  dwell  in  the  affairs  of  the  world, 
merely  as  the  scene  of  our  appointed  duty  be- 
fore God,  whose  favor  and  loving-kindness  are 
made  our  life,  is  the  sure  and  only  method  of 
really  freeing  life  from  its  perplexities,  and  of 
enlarging  and  multiplying  the  circle  and  the 
number  of  its  joys. 

And  here  is  the  first  opening  perplexity  of 
the  man  of  business.  He  forgets  this  true 
theory  of  life.  He  loses  the  substance  in  his 
vain  pursuit  of  the  shadow.  The  worldly  mind 
presses  into  the  business  of  the  world,  as  the 
great  end  and  purpose  of  its  being.  The  wealtli, 
and  power,  and  honor  of  human  hfe,  the  varied 
attainments  of  personal  influence  and  gain  in 
1* 


10  PERPLEXITIES   AND   TEMPTATIONS 

earthly  things,  are  souglit  with  an  earnestness 
and  perseverance  entirely  disproportionate  to 
their  worth,  and  completely  destructive  to  the 
higher  nature  and  hopes  of  man.  The  fountain 
of  living  waters  is  exchanged  in  a  deliberate 
purpose  of  pursuit,  for  broken  cisterns  that  can 
hold  no  water. 

Man  is  resolved  to  be  rich ;  and  in  the  very 
formation  of  this  purpose,  and  in  the  conse- 
quent efforts  to  accomplish  it,  though  he  may  in- 
tentionally involve  himself  in  no  actual  fraud  or 
crime  in  human  estimation,  he  falls  into  tempta- 
tion and  snares  which  habitually  drown  him  in 
destruction  and  perdition.  His  whole  hfe  is  a 
scheme  of  insatiable  idolatry.  The  present 
world  itself  becomes  his  object,  and  the  re- 
membrance of  God,  and  the  desire  for  God, 
and  the  recognition  of  his  responsibility  to  God, 
are  banished  from  his  mind.  He  has  set  up  an 
idol  in  his  heart,  and  has  instituted  a  worship 
before  it  of  whole  burnt-offerings  and  sacrifices, 
the  claims  of  which  can  never  be  satisfied.  His 
whole  scheme  of  world-worship,  too,  involves  a 
constant  sense  of  degradation  and  self-reproach, 
an  habitual  repetition  of  conscious  violation  of 
duty,  and  an  unyielding  fear  of  final  loss  and 
ruin.     He  has  made  his  whole  life  a  perplexity 


OF   THE   MAlSr   OF   BUSIKESS.  11 

in  the  very  plan  on  wliicli  lie  has  arranged  its 
occupations  and  obj  ects.  Already  has  he  pierced 
himself  through  with  many  sorrows,  in  the  very 
scheme  on  which  he  has  framed  the  purpose  of 
his  toil.  But  who  shall  pursue  such  an  end  as 
this,  as  the  object  of  life,  and  remain  inno- 
cent of  great  transgressions  ?  This  earnest  de- 
sire and  determination  for  mere  gain  will  in- 
volve the  inevitable  consequence  of  successive 
acts  of  fraud.  They  may  be  secret.  They 
may  be  without  responsibility  to  man.  But 
they  are  not  the  less  real,  and  conscious,  and 
ruinous  to  the  soul.  There  is  a  constant  rob- 
bery of  God  of  the  reverence  to  which  his 
authority  is  entitled,  and  of  the  gratitude  and 
remembrance  which  his  bounties  demand.  There 
is  an  increasing  defrauding  of  the  soul  of  its 
native  desire  and  privilege  of  enlargement  for 
higher  and  better  scenes  and  occupations,  by  this 
oppressive  encasing  of  all  its  energies  in  the  mis- 
erable routine  of  low,  selfish,  local  and  temporary 
designs.  There  is  a  progressive  denial  of  all  the 
finer  and  nobler  affections  of  the  heart,  in  the 
refusal  of  liberal  kindness  to  the  needy,  and  in 
the  artificial  stimulating  of  the  spirit  of  selfish- 
ness, which,  like  riveting  an  iron  armor  on  the 
youthful  body,  violently  repressing  its  natural 


12  PERPLEXITIES    AND   TEMPTATIONS 

growth,  not  only  robs  it  of  all  its  beauty  and 
strength,  but  adds  also  the  keenest  misery  to 
its  inevitable  deformity.  There  is  a  solemn  and 
fearful  sacrifice  of  future  hope,  and  resulting 
glory,  and  a  kingdom  which  can  not  be  removed, 
for  the  mere  gratification  of  an  earthly  appe- 
tite and  a  low  sensual  passion.  Who  can  think 
or  speak  of  this  whole  course  and  scheme  of 
being  without  a  solemn  perception  of  the  dis- 
honor and  guilt  which  are  involved  in  the  very 
adoption  of  the  theory  on  which  it  is  framed  ? 
And  how  can  the  man  who  starts  in  his  career 
with  a  principle  so  delusive  and  false,  and  so 
necessarily  disappointing  and  destructive,  won- 
der at  any  perplexities  in  which  he  shall  be  in- 
volved, or  at  any  bitterness  of  despair  in  which 
they  may  result  at  last.  He  has  doomed  him- 
self to  wretchedness  as  the  very  characteristic 
of  his  life,  and  he  must  lie  down  at  last  in  the 
bitterest,  but  most  unavailing  sorrow,  when  his 
whole  weary  career  has  been  completed,  and 
his  mad  experiment  has  been  thoroughly  tried. 
We  quarrel  not  with  the  ardor  and  earnest- 
ness of  an  active  life.  The  business  of  this 
world  is  to  be  pursued,  and  that  with  industry 
and  fidelity.  But  it  must  be  pursued  as  a  Hne 
of  duty,  and  as  a  course  of  obligation,  with  a 


OF   THE    MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  13 

constant  remembrance  of  its  responsibility  and 
results,  and  of  the  divine  authority  which  is  to 
control  it,  or  it  will  become  a  scheme  of  unfail- 
ing wretchedness  to  the  man  who  engages  in  it. 
A  constant  remembrance  of  God  in  his  com- 
mandments and  his  claims  must  be  the  chosen 
and  cherished  attendant  of  the  man  who  would 
enter  safely  and  happily  into  the  active  business 
of  the  world.  He  must  be  able  to  say,  '^  I  have 
set  the  Lord  always  before  me,"  as  much  in  the 
aifairs  of  his  office,  or  counting-house,  or  shop, 
as  in  the  direct  offerings  of  his  professed  reli- 
gious worship.  If  he  be  earnest  and  upright  in 
his  motives  and  plans,  on  this  high  and  enno- 
bling scheme,  he  will  enjoy  in  the  highest  de- 
gree the  prosperity  which  may  crown  his  ef- 
forts, and  he  will  be  peaceful  and  grateful  still, 
though  outward  losses  and  disappointments 
should  prove  to  be  his  designated  trial.  Such 
a  man  may  say  of  his  acquired  wealth,  like  Sir 
Matthew  Hale :  "  It  has  been  honestly  gotten, 
and  it  will  wear  well."  And  however  low  his 
outward  condition  may  possibly  become,  there 
will  still  be  a  charm  and  a  relish  in  his  dinner 
of  herbs,  which  riches  gotten  by  wrong  can 
never  supply.  This  just  theory  and  remem- 
brance of  life  will  furnish  him  with  constant 


14  PERPLEXITIES    AND   TEMPTATIONS 

light,  tranquillity  and  peace.  And  lie  will 
find,  as  Lord  Bacon  has  described  it,  "  no  less 
tlian  a  heaven  upon  earth,  in  a  mind  which 
rests  in  Providence,  moves  in  charity,  and  turns 
upon  the  poles  of  truth." 

But  here,  habitually,  the  first  perplexity  of 
the  man  of  business  occurs.  He  rushes  into 
the  world,  as  if  it  were  in  itself  the  appointed 
end  of  his  being.  He  plunges  into  the  midst 
of  bustling  contests  for  gain  without  hesitation, 
and  without  alarm ;  he  makes  a  complete  over- 
turn of  the  whole  divine,  and  the  only  opera- 
tive arrangement  of  his  mind.  Every  thing 
within  himself,  and  in  his  relations  to  outward 
things,  becomes  disordered.  He  chases  after  a 
shadow  which  he  never  grasps.  He  exalts  into 
the  place  of  his  treasures,  objects  over  which 
the  wind  passeth,  and  they  are  gone.  He 
dooms  himself  to  be  the  victim  and  the  prey  of 
successive  disappointments  and  of  final  despair  ; 
he  sacrifices  his  calmness  of  conscience,  his 
peacefulness  of  spirit,  his  sense  of  dignity,  his 
freedom  of  usefulness  and  intelligent  thought, 
his  future  and  higher  hopes  and  aims,  in  mak- 
ing himself  a  mere  drudge  —  a  slave,  to  bear  an 
inevitable  burden,  and  to  groan  at  last  in  the  per- 
ception that  he  has  gained  nothing  by  its  endur- 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  15 

ance.  What  a  complication  of  sorrows  liang 
upon  tliis  one  error  of  man !  Covetousness  is 
idolatry,  and  tMs  idolatry  is  tlie  certain  parent 
of  wretchedness  and  despair. 

But  against  this  whole  train  of  sorrows  the 
principles  and  precepts  of  the  Bible  furnish  a 
complete  antidote  and  preventive.  What  bet- 
ter scheme  for  a  prosperous  and  happy  life  can 
he  laid  out,  than  that  which  is  so  beautifully 
described  by  the  apostle  in  his  letter  to  the 
Philippian  Christians?  "Rejoice  in  the  Lord 
always.  Let  your  moderation  be  known  unto  all 
men.  The  Lord  is  at  hand.  Be  careful  for  no- 
thing, but  in  every  thing  by  prayer  and  suppli- 
cation with  thanksgiving,  let  your  requests  be 
made  known  unto  God ;  and  the  peace  of  God 
which  passeth  all  understanding,  shall  keep 
your  hearts  and  minds  through  Christ  Jesus." 
Here  is  a  life  of  business,  which  is  also  a  life  of 
usefulness,  happiness,  and  rest;  every  act  of 
which  is  exalted  into  worship,  and  every  gain 
of  which  is  made  an  imperishable  treasure,  en- 
during in  the  heavens.  In  the  settlement  of 
this  one  grand  principle  and  question,  "  what  is 
to  be  the  theory  and  plan  and  object  of  your 
life  V  we  may  predicate  the  whole  issue  of  pros- 
perity, happiness,  and  final  gain,  or  of  turbu- 


16  PERPLEXITIES    AND   TEMPTATIONS 

lence,  disappointment,   discontent,   and  unalle- 
viated  misery,  as  its  result. 

This  one  fundamental  principle  will  constitute 
the  real  distinction  between  the  Christian  in  the 
l)usiness  of  the  world,  who  is  striving  to  do 
every  thing  as  unto  the  Lord,  and  the  mere 
worldling,  whose  only  desired  portion  is  in  the 
riches  of  the  earth,  and  to  whom  self  is  the  only 
god.  Both  may  meet  with  the  same  circum- 
stances of  difficulty.  Both  in  their  passage 
through  an  active,  anxious  life,  may  scrape  over 
the  same  shallows,  or  be  whirled  around  the 
same  rocks  and  rapids.  But  the  one  has  a 
guiding  principle  which  will  lead  to  certain  se- 
curity in  the  issue,  and  the  other  has  adopted 
a  purpose,  which,  however  it  may  give  room  for 
an  apparently  freer  course  on  the  way,  can  lead 
to  no  final  result,  but  fearful  and  irreparable  loss. 

Our  present  object  is  with  the  former,  and  not 
with  the  latter  of  these  two.  The  idolator  of 
the  world  we  must  leave.  He  has  entangled 
himself  in  his  first  step,  and  every  subsequent  step 
is  but  a  further  plunge  into  difficulty  and  ruin. 
His  only  course  of  safety  is  in  a  complete  re- 
bracing  of  his  plan  of  life,  and  seeking  by  the 
Divine  Spirit,  to  have  all  things  within  him 
.nade  new.     The  conscientious  servant  of  God 


OF   THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  17 

in  the  world,  the  real  soldier  of  Christ  in  the 
affairs  of  this  life,  may  be  called  to  contend 
with  many  perplexities  and  temptations;  but 
he  will  not  be  permanently  entangled  or  dis- 
heartened, still  less  destroyed  by  them.  "  Who 
is  he  that  will  harm  yon,  if  ye  be  followers  of 
that  which  is  good  V  is  the  demand  of  conscious 
security  and  success,  even  in  the  darkest  hours  of 
a  Christian's  warfare.  It  is  for  him  that  we 
here  write.  It  is  for  him  that  we  are  disposed  to 
consider  more  particularly  and  practically,  the 
common  sources  and  shapes  of  perplexity  and 
temptation  to  which  the  man  of  business,  in  all 
the  departments  of  human  life,  is  likely  to  be 
exposed. 

The  conscientious  man,  who  is  resolved  to 
square  his  whole  conduct  by  the  rule  of  God's 
word,  in  every  department  of  the  business  of 
life,  is  exposed  to  very  similar  temptations.  So 
far  as  the  mere  attainment  of  worldly  gam 
is  concerned,  he  has  a  twofold  object.  He 
seeks  the  adequate  support  of  himself,  and  per- 
haps of  a  family  dependent  upon  his  efforts ; 
and  beyond  this,  the  fair  and  moderate  accumu- 
lation of  means  for  future  independence,  both  for 
himself  and  them.  Each  part  of  this  twofold 
object  may  be  justly  considered,  not  only  as  a 


18  PEEPLEXITIES   AND   TEMPTATIONS 

personal  riglit,  but  also  as  a  relative  duty.  Man 
may  toil  for  them  both,  with,  a  clear  conscience, 
and  a  tranquil  sense  of  his  fulfillment  of  indivi 
dual  obligation,  while  he  does  it  all  in  the  fear 
of  God,  with  an  obedient  purpose  to  honor  him, 
and  with  a  grateful  remembrance  of  his  goodness, 
"  who  giveth  him  all  things  richly  to  enjoy." 
But  he  will  never  pursue  his  path  of  labor  and 
gain  without  perplexities,  which  will  awaken 
constant  anxious  concern,  often  exceedingly 
harass  his  mind,  and  sometimes  almost  disgust 
him  completely  with  the  whole  business  of  life. 
Often  nothing  but  the  stern  demands  of  mani- 
fest necessity  will  be  sufficient  to  control  the 
power  of  these  rising  embarrassments  in  his 
condition.  And  he  is  ready  to  feel  that  were 
he  alone,  and  obliged  only  to  provide  for  him- 
self, he  would  rather  flee  to  the  wilderness,  and 
live  away  from  all  the  busy  haunts  of  men,  than 
endure  the  anxious  toil  and  trial  which  he  is 
compelled  to  bear.  This  is  all  a  part  of  the  di- 
vine scheme  of  his  education  for  something  bet- 
ter. And  it  is  by  the  means  of  this  very  pro- 
cess of  rising  up  early,  and  late  taking  rest,  and 
eating  the  bread  of  carefulness,  that  God  pre- 
pares his  beloved  for  the  rest  which  he  has  pro- 
vided for  them. 


OF   THE   MAN   OF   BUSmESS.  19 

He  must  sometimes  begin  his  life  of  toil  with 
exceedingly  limited  means  for  trade  or  profes- 
sional skill.     And  he  is  compelled  to  feel  at  the 
outset,  the  truth  of  the  proverb,  '^  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  poor  is  their  poverty."     He  has  lit- 
tle, perhaps  no  capital  of  his  own,  on  the  basis 
of  which  he  may  traffic,  or  with  the  provisions 
of  which  he  may  labor.     He  starts  in  his  course 
under  a  pressure  of  want  which  if  it  sharpens 
the  wits  for  calculation  and  contest,  also  tends  to 
blunt  the  conscience,  and  to  persuade  man  to 
excuse  and  palliate  many  a  conscious  wrong. 
''  Lest  I  be  poor  and  steal,"  was  Agur's  reason 
for  his  prayer  against  poverty.     And  its  appli- 
cation remains  for  ever.    But  poverty  is  a  relative 
word.     Its  adaptation  to  man's  condition  is  not 
actual  and  abstract,  but  contingent  and  propor- 
tional.    The   young  man  in  business  without 
adequate  capital,  may  not  be  actually  destitute 
of  food  and  personal  comforts ;   but  he  is  with- 
out the  means  of  carrying  on  the  trade  in  which 
he  has  engaged  with  encouraging  or  compensating 
success.     To  this  extent  he  is  poor,  and  must 
live  by  his  wits.     He  must  make  up  in  skill  and 
sharpness  of  calculation,  and  in  toil  and  jDcrse- 
vering  industry,  what  he  wants  in  means.    And 
here  is  often  found  a  very  severe  pressure  of 


20  PERPLEXITIES   AND   TEMPTATIONS 

perplexity  and  temptation.  A  thousand  anxious 
thouglits  arise,  and  scliemes  and  visions  of  pos- 
sible gain  or  of  triumph,  over  the  adversities  of 
his  condition,  occupy  and  excite  his  waking  and 
sleeping  meditations.  Bishop  Hall  says  it  is 
easy  to  drive  a  long  team  on  a  large  common ; 
but  to  turn  it  safely  through  the  narrow 
lanes,  and  to  guide  it  round  the  sharp  corners 
of  a  city,  requires  great  skill  and  care  in  the 
driver.  Doubtless  such  an  experience  vastly 
promotes  the  individual  skill,  and  when  rightly 
guarded  and  governed,  becomes  the  mother, 
however  severe,  of  valuable  traits  of  excellence 
and  usefulness,  and  of  a  prosperity  in  after  life 
which  is  more  than  a  recompense  for  all  the 
process  of  the  education.  But  many  a  young 
man  in  the  fairest  openings  of  trade,  under  the 
pressure  of  anxiety  in  long-continued  contem- 
plation, from  this  one  source,  is  driven  either  to 
sink  beneath  the  load  of  despondency  or  to 
hazard  in  unwarranted  and  excessive  loans  the 
integrity  of  his  character,  the  peace  of  his  con- 
science, and  the  future  prosperity  of  his  life.  It 
is  a  contest  in  which  tried  strength  and  virtue 
grows  with  permanent  confidence,  but  under 
which  feebleness  of  principle,  or  fickleness  of 
purpose,  is  sure  to  fail.     In  every  class  of  busi- 


OF   THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  21 

ness,  the  princes  of  tlie  trade  are  the  men  wlio 
began  with  nothing,  and  who  look  around  on  all 
the  attainments  of  their  age,  with  the  honest 
gratulation  that  under  the  divine  blessing,  they 
have  been  dependent  for  their  success  and  pros- 
perity only  upon  their  own  integrity,  fidelity, 
and  skill.  And  we  can  not  regard  the  narrow 
circumstances  of  the  commencement  of  active 
life,  as  a  reason  for  regret,  or  a  cause  for  sorrow, 
for  we  believe  there  is  no  other  process  less 
painful  or  harassing,  which  will  so  surely  stir 
up  the  gift  which  may  be  in  man,  and  bring 
out  for  circulation  and  use  the  veins  of  gold 
which  may  lie  embedded  in  his  hidden  mines. 
If  he  be  faithful,  honest,  honorable.  Christian, 
his  early  straitness  of  condition  will  be  an 
everlasting  blessing.  It  is  a  soil  that  will  yield 
to  appropriate  cultivation  the  richest  and  the 
most  lasting  fruit.  But  it  will  involve  care, 
thought,  labor,  purpose,  and  unshrinking  virtue, 
to  prevent  its  becoming  not  merely  a  perplexity 
in  occupation,  but  a  poison  to  the  soul. 

The  want  of  capital  is  a  difficulty  which  cir- 
cumstances and  periods  of  earthly  business  often 
very  much  increase.  There  was  a  time  in  our 
history,  and  perhaps  there  are  still  places  in  our 
country,  in  which  a  very  small  capital  might 


22  PERPLEXITIES   AIS-D   TEMPTATIONS 

be  made  to  appear  a  very  adequate  start  in  life. 
Habits  of  living  were  plain  and  simple.  The 
expenses  of  conducting  business  were  moderate 
and  comparatively  small.  But  with  tlie  rising 
prosperity  of  a  country,  tbese  characteristics  re- 
markably change.  No  longer  can  a  young  mer- 
chant, or  even  a  mechanic,  live  respectably,  as 
he  thinks,  in  the  simplicity  of  his  father's  style. 
Dr.  Franklin  says,  "  The  eyes  that  ruin  us,  are 
other  people's."  There  is  everywhere  now  an 
advanced  scheme  of  domestic  residence,  and  fur- 
niture, and  dress,  which  seems  imperative  in  its 
demands.  There  is  an  immense  enhancement 
of  all  the  costs  of  trade  in  every  department  of 
its  operations.  The  young  man  can  not  launch 
his  new-built  bark  upon  the  sea  of  enterprise 
at  less  than  four-fold,  perhaps  ten-fold,  the  cost 
of  outfit  and  inventory  with  which  his  father 
sailed.  This  is  a  difficulty  apparently  not  to  be 
avoided.  If  he  shrink  from  locations  and  op- 
portunities of  trade  for  their  excessive  cost,  he 
retires  also,  as  he  thinks,  from  all  the  possible 
gains  and  advantage  which  they  hold  out  to  view, 
and  loses  the  very  prize  for  which  he  would  con- 
tend, from  a  fear  of  hazard,  which  he  is  tempted 
to  despise  as  a  want  of  enterprise.  This  whole 
contingency  of  profit  often  turns  upon  a  very 


OF   THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  23 

sharp  line.  It  may  be  that  the  question  of 
moving  around  the  corner  of  a  street  may  in- 
volve half  the  expense  of  his  scheme  of  business, 
and  yet  hazard  the  whole  of  its  profit.  And  he 
must  encounter  all  this  anxious  calculation  and 
contrivance  in  the  very  commencement  of  his 
plans  of  work  for  life.  His  difficulties  are 
great ;  the  perplexity  of  his  appointed  path  is 
most  harassing,  and  too  often  is  he  tempted,  ei- 
ther by  a  sacrifice  of  principle,  to  make  haste  to 
be  rich,  and  thus  by  assuming  obligations  which 
he  can  never  discharge,  practically  to  "  steal," 
or  to  sink  in  a  tame  despair  at  the  prospect 
of  the  difficulties  before  Mm,  and  throw  away 
all  the  intelligence  and  thrift  with  which  he 
may  have  been  endowed,  in  the  mere  terror  of 
the  undertaking.  The  former  course  may  in- 
volve him  in  inextricable  disgrace  and  ruin. 
The  latter  dooms  him  to  a  chosen  lethargy  and 
want.  As  an  illustration  of  the  former,  there 
was  a  young  man  tempted  forward  in  apparent^ 
ly  prosperous  openings,  who,  though,  he  never 
had  ten  thousand  dollars  capital  of  his  own,  as- 
sumed a  rent  of  more  than  half  that  sum  for  a 
desirable  store  —  allowed  his  family  expenses  to 
run  up  annually  to  five  thousand  more  —  traded 
in  one  year  to  an  amount  over  eight  hundred 


24  PERPLEXITIES    AND    TEMPTATIONS 

thousand,  and  in  a  few  years  failed,  leaving  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  debts,  of 
which  he  was  never  able  to  pay  a  single  dollar. 
Who  could  be  surprised  that  his  character  was 
covered  with  dishonor,  or  that  his  conscience 
knew  no  real  subsequent  peace  ?  He  was  pro- 
minent as  a  Christian  man,  but  his  haste  to  be 
rich  in  this  perplexity  of  his  career,  made  ship- 
wreck of  his  faith,  and  wrote  upon  his  very 
countenance  the  deep  lines  of  conscious  wrong- 
doing which  all  might  read.  Yet  there  is  sure- 
ly here  a  middle  path  of  industry,  economy, 
and  "  patient  continuance  in  well-doing,"  which 
will  lead  a  young  man  safely  through  this  maze, 
and  enable  him  to  enjoy  that  accepting  "  bless- 
ing of  God,  which  maketh  rich  and  addeth  no 
sorrow  therewith."  Let  him  strive  watchfully 
in  this  path,  remembering  that  no  man  striving 
for  the  mastery  can  hope  to  be  crowned  except 
he  strive  lawfully.  The  richest  inheritance 
which  he  can  ever  have  on  earth,  and  which 
lie  can  never  sacrifice  or  hazard  with  safety 
or  hope,  is  the  testimony  of  a  good  conscience 
before  God,  giving  boldness  to  the  coun- 
tenance, elasticity  to  the  spirit,  and  a  conscious 
right  to  the  confidence  and  respect  of  his  fellow- 
men. 


OF   THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  25 

Added  to  these  two  perplexities,  comes  tlie 
constant  increase  of  individual  competition, 
from  tlie  multiplying  of  the  numbers  around 
the  man  of  business  who  are  engaged  in  similar 
occupations,  and  the  necessary  diminution  of 
individual  profits  with  which  the  business  must 
in  consequence  be  transacted  by  each.  This  is 
an  inevitable  result  of  the  growing  age  and 
population  of  a  country.  Every  class  of  hu- 
man business  in  an  old  country  becomes  over- 
stocked. The  field  of  occupation  is  subdivided, 
until,  in  the  business  of  life,  as  in  the  territory 
on  which  it  is  transacted,  farms  are  cut  up  into 
acres,  and  acres  into  dwelling-lots,  and  even 
these  again  compressed  with  an  upward  occupa- 
tion of  the  sky  above,  in  proportion  as  a  pos- 
session of  the  area  of  the  earth  below  is  refused 
and  unattainable.  Such  a  separation  of  the 
parts  of  business,  and  such  a  competition  between 
them,  sharpens  amazingly  the  powers  of  human 
invention.  It  has  been  the  parent  of  all  those 
thousands  of  machines,  by  which  the  present 
age,  and  our  land,  are  so  distinguished,  giving  to 
one  man  the  strength  of  hundreds,  and  accom- 
plishing in  hours  the  work  of  days.  But  it  also 
almost  equally  forces  the  appetite,  and  what 
men  will  sometimes  excuse  as  the  necessity,  for 

2 


26  PERPLEXITIES   AND    TEMPTATIONS 

fraud.  If  macliines  are  invented  to  supersede 
human  labor  by  mecbanical  or  brute  force,  and 
steam  be  made  apparently  to  starve  multitudes 
wbose  handiwork  it  displaces,  so  also  must  new 
plans  of  business  be  contrived ;  new  agencies  of 
enterprise  be  discovered  ;  cheaper  and  more  ex- 
peditious methods  of  accomplishment  be  in- 
vented, that  by  the  products  of  advancing  skill 
and  better  adapted  intelligence,  competitors 
may  be  undersold,  and  the  common  business  be 
carried  on  with  increased  advantage  to  the  indi- 
vidual engaged.  This  competition  is  not  to  be 
avoided.  When  it  is  healthful  and  just,  it  is  not 
desirable  that  it  should  be.  Its  aggregate  con- 
stitutes the  wealth  of  a  land,  and  its  wholesome 
and  stimulating  operation  promotes  and  secures 
the  prosperity  and  comfort  of  multitudes  who 
are  not  directly  engaged  in  the  circle  of  its  con- 
test. But  it  creates  frequent  and  great  per- 
plexities to  the  individual  trader,  and  offcen  em- 
barrasses and  breaks  down  the  young  man  of 
business  in  the  beginning  of  his  career.  Fre- 
quently, also,  there  is  great  injustice  perpetrated 
under  the  garb  of  just  and  equitable  competition. 
A  large  trader  with  abundant  capital  will  delib- 
erately adopt  the  nature  and  occupation  of  the 
tiger  among  the  flocks.     Though  already  abun- 


OF   THE  MAN   OF   BTTSHirESS.  27 

dantly  ricli,  and  needing  nothing  more,  lie  will 
devote  Mmself  to  tlie  oppressive  persecution  of 
competitors  with  smaller  means.  Instead  of  a 
noble  and  generous  encouragement  of  them  hy 
maintaining  the  stand  of  the  branch  of  trade  in 
which  they  are  engaged  in  common,  he  wUl  un- 
dersell them,  even  at  a  loss  to  himself.  He  will 
even  ascertain  the  main  staple  of  their  invest- 
ment, that  he  may  especially  destroy  them  by  a 
ruinous  reduction  of  the  market  price  for  this 
one  class  of  merchandise.  His  purpose  is  no 
longer  an  honorable  gain  for  himself,  but  a 
murderous  ruin  for  others ;  and  embarrassment 
aud  failure  in  trade,  and  hopeless  debts,  and  se- 
cret family  distress,  and  it  may  be  heart-broken 
poverty,  and  even  despairing  suicide,  may  be 
the  results  of  this  unrighteous  oppression  of  the 
poor,  by  the  rich  of  this  world.  Such  a  man, 
while  far  from  an  advantage  to  the  trade,  is  no 
benefit  to  the  community  in  which  he  trades. 
Like  some  of  the  haughty  and  cruel  land-own- 
ers whom  the  soil  of  Europe  occasionally  pro- 
duces, who  delight  to  sell  out  whole  villages  of 
the  poor  to  increase  the  area  of  their  worthless 
parks,  and  to  depopulate  a  neighborhood  by 
the  grinding  of  the  faces  of  the  laboring  and 
needy,  till  they  compel  hundreds  to  depart,  that 


28  PERPLEXITIES   AND   TEMPTATIONS 

they  may  dwell  alone,  and  that  their  game  may 
roam  where  these  poor  ones  were  born,  and 
where  their  fathers  lie,  and  where  they  too 
would  willingly  have  toiled  and  died,  and  then 
affect  to  consider  the  splendor  of  their  en- 
larged palaces,  and  the  green  silence  of  their 
outspread  lawns,  the  index  of  the  prosperity  of 
the  land  which  they  have  cursed,  so  does  such 
an  overgrown  trader  become  the  voluntary 
destroyer  of  hundreds,  furnishing,  in  return,  no 
increase  to  the  common  wealth,  often  even 
swearing  out  from  just  taxation  for  the  public, 
the  whole  amount  of  his  ill-gathered  property, 
and  willingly  sacrificing  the  happiness  and  pros- 
perity of  any  and  all  others,  to  his  own  selfish 
plans  of  covetous  accumulation.  This,  in  a 
greater  or  a  less  degree,  is  a  frequent  shape  of  the 
competition  in  which  the  man  of  business  must 
contend.  And  when  such  a  pressure  comes 
upon  one  whose  capital  is  small,  and  whose  ex- 
penses are  necessarily  disproportionate  to  his 
means,  the  perplexity  and  the  temptation  are 
great,  and  the  conscience,  and  the  stern  purpose 
of  honesty  and  right  become  often  severely 
tried.  The  alternative  frequently  appears  in- 
evitable between  absolute  failure,  with  its 
painful  results  in  poverty  and  domestic  distress. 


OF    THE    MAN    OF    ]JUSINESS.  29 

and  a  sacrifice  of  truth,  and  honesty,  and  the 
fear  and  favor  of  God,  in  unrighteous  attempts 
for  vindication  and  relief 

This  increase  of  competition  in  trade  necessa- 
rily also  promotes  the  improvement  of  means 
and  agencies  for  trade.  And  in  this  field  again, 
while  capital  may  be  honorably  invested,  and 
skill  and  powers  of  invention  may  be  justly  and 
profitably  employed,  another  contest  is  urged 
and  maintained,  in  which  the  want  of  capital 
is  often  the  source  of  failure  and  ruin.  A  man 
may  have  invested  his  whole  command  of  pecu- 
niary ability  in  a  style  or  method  of  operation 
of  adequate  and  compensating  profit,  when  the 
unexpected  invention  of  machinery,  or  the  dis- 
covery of  some  new  principle  of  power  by  oth- 
ers, or  their  greater  ability  of  capital  for  invest- 
ment in  such  machinery  or  discovery,  may  in- 
stantly annihilate  all  his  hopes  of  gain,  and 
destroy  the  worth  of  all  the  investments  which 
he  holds.  We  can  not  complain  of  this  new 
element  of  contest,  or  righteously  forbid  its  ap- 
pearance and  operation,  as  a  general  fact  in  a 
community.  The  advance  of  the.  prosperity  of 
the  whole,  is,  in  such,  a  case,  more  than  a  com- 
pensation for  the. losses  of  individuals.  And 
the  general  prosperity  of  a  community  justly 


80  PEKPLEXITIES    AND    TEMPTATIONS 

compels  tlie  claims  of  private  interest  and  advan- 
tage to  yield.  It  would  be  a  mere  absurdity  to 
groan  over  tlie  want  of  employment  to  indivi- 
duals, however  multiplied  tbey  are,  wbicli  bas 
followed  from  tbe  amazing  inventions  of  tbe 
steam-engine,  tbe  power-press,  or  tbe  cotton- 
loom.  Yet  tbe  fact  bas  been  equally  real  and 
pressing  in  a  thousand  cases  of  illustration.  Eacb 
of  tbese  inventions  threw  multitudes  out  of 
work,  and  wrecked  their  little  all  in  their  un- 
provided voyage.  And  it  required  tbe  endurance 
of  much  suffering,  and  tbe  passage  of  a  necessary 
interval  of  time,  before  the  equilibrium  was 
again  restored,  and  tbe  surrounding  interests  of 
individuals  and  the  trade  were  once  more  adjust- 
ed. Such  illustrations  are  likely  always  to  occur. 
As  advancing  science  brings  its  new  discoveries  to 
aid  and  adorn  tbe  arts,  tbe  mechanical  and  so- 
cial powers  of  man  must  constantly  increase ; 
and  tbe  varieties  of  human  invention  will  be 
multiplied  in  number,  and  carried  further  for- 
ward into  tbe  domains  of  actual  work.  Each 
new  invention  successfully  operating  both  sug- 
gests tbe  principle  of  another,  and  excites  to  the 
effort  for  its  realization.  Tbe  skill  of  man  is  thus 
unceasingly  sharpened  and  urged  forward.  A 
machine  may  be  hardly  a  year  old,  before  some 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  31 

new  discovery  gets  rid  of  its  friction,  or  dimin- 
ishes its  expense,  or  reduces  tlie  cost  of  working 
it,  and  its  doom  is  fixed.     All  its  promises  and 
liopes  are  compelled  to  yield  to  a  more  effective 
and  successful  competition.     The  reducing  the 
price  of  manufacture  of  necessity  regulates  in 
its  result  the  market  for  trade.     And  it  is  im- 
possible to  limit  the  field  of  application  to  which 
the  process  of  invention  may  be  carried.  It  is  seen 
in  all  arts  and  preparations  for  navigation  on 
the  sea,  and  in  all  the  schemes  for  mechanical 
power  on  the  land.     The  lines  and  the  materials 
of  commerce,  and  the  methods  and  courses  of 
transportation  are  all  in  their  turn  involved. 
The  man  of  business,  to  be  a  successful  one,  must 
be  a  quick,  ready,  intelligent,  and  thoroughly 
informed  one,  not  only  in  the  particular  branch 
which  he  has  selected,  but  in  all  the  related  and 
contingent  branches  which  bear  upon  it ;  or  the 
skill  of  invention  will  distance  his  powers,  and 
the  progress  of  discovery  will  leave  him  in  the 
rear. 

The  possibility  of  this  competition,  we  might 
more  justly  say  the  certainty  of  it,  in  every 
shape  and  department  of  human  trade,  will 
make  a  frequent  cause  of  new  perplexity  to  the 
man  of  business.    Wherever  he  may  look  around 


32  PERPLEXITIES    AND   TEMPTATIONS 

in  a  commercial  community,  whose  free  schools 
and  active  trade  give  every  poor  man's  son  the 
full  chance  for  the  exercise  of  all  the  powers 
with  which  God  has  endowed  him,  and  urge 
him  by  every  motive  of  hope,  of  gain,  and  of 
honor,  to  realize  the  wildest  of  his  dreams  of 
greatness  and  influence,  this  contest  must  grow 
more  and  more  earnest  and  varied.  And  as  the 
result,  talent,  industry,  and  enterprise,  in  their 
applications  to  the  walks  of  trade,  united  with 
economy,  honesty,  and  truth  as  the  principles 
of  its  management,  must  be  the  occupants  of 
the  throne  of  social  government,  and  rule  and 
regulate  the  interests  of  individuals  by  the  en- 
larging schemes  which  they  propose.  This 
whole  interwoven  scheme  of  operation  will 
enlarge  and  quicken  the  powers  of  every  man 
of  business,  but  it  will  also  often  exceedingly 
enhance  and  multiply  the  perplexities  of  his 
pursuit  of  trade. 

All  these  perplexities  come  within  the  range 
of  honorable  traffic,  and  involve,  in  the  general 
sources  from  whence  they  arise,  nothing  that  is 
morally  destructive.  But  beyond  these,  and 
perhaps  occasionally  connected  with  them  all, 
there  is  the  difficulty  which  arises  from  the 
prevalence  of  surrounding  fraud  in  every  branch 


OF   THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  83 

of  trade.  The  honest  and  upright  man  of 
business  often  iinds  himself  placed  in  temporary 
disadvantage,  by  the  greater  immediate  facilities 
for  success,  which  others  derive  from  a  fraudulent 
pursuit  of  the  same  course  of  occupation.  Des- 
titute of  conscience  and  honor,  and  indifferent 
to  the  law  of  God  and  the  claims  of  truth,  they 
can  make  false  representations  without  hesita- 
tion, and  take  advantage  of  ignorance  without 
remorse.  The  habits  of  deception  often  produce 
wonderful  adroitness  and  skill  in  the  management 
of  the  deceit.  The  alacrity  of  the  pickpocket 
in  the  use  of  the  nicely  concealed  knife  in  his 
finger-ring,  often  renders  him  more  than  a  match 
for  any  vigilance.  The  skill  of  the  counterfeiter 
sometimes  almost  defies  the  most  practised  power 
of  detection.  And  the  unprincipled  and  violent 
portion  of  men  seem  for  a  season  to  triumpli 
easily  over  the  honest  and  the  upright  in  their 
pursuit  of  the  gains  of  earth.  The  likelihood  of 
success  appears  thus  to  place  a  premium  upon 
fraud.  The  contest  between  honesty  and 
knavery,  amidst  the  varied  apparent  disadvan- 
tages which  attend  upon  the  former,  is  often  for 
a  time  extremely  unequal.  The  upright  man 
who  struggles  forward  in  the  faithful  and  assid- 
uous employment  of  his  lawful  and  honorable 


34  PERPLEXITIES    AND    TEMPTATIONS 

opportunities  for  gain,  resolving  to  maintain,  in 
all  liis  transactions,  a  conscience  void  of  offense 
towards  God  and  towards  men,  appears  to  have 
but  little  chance  of  success,  in  competition  wifli 
a  fraudulent  neiglibor,  wlio  buys  without  con- 
cern whether  he  shall  ever  pay,  and  borrows  in 
enormous  disproportion  to  his  own  ability,  of 
the  funds  of  others,  reckless  whether  they  shall 
ever  be  restored.  To  the  one  a  failure  without 
the  means  to  redeem  the  sacred  pledges  of  his 
honest  debts,  is  not  only  a  dishonor  in  trade, 
but  is  also  a  violation  of  his  own  conscience  of 
right,  a  result  which  inflicts  far  more  pain  upon 
a  sensitive  and  upright  mind,  than  the  mere 
pressure  of  outward  disgrace.  To  the  other, 
the  failure  of  payment  is  but  a  source  of  gain. 
He  readily  secretes  from  his  creditors  the  stolen 
property  in  his  possession,  and  settles  his  con- 
science and  his  debts  at  the  lowest  possible  per 
centage  of  payment,  and  then  chooses  to  repre- 
sent himself  as  honorably  discharged  from  obliga- 
tion, and  authorized  to  commence  a  new  career 
with  an  entire  oblivion  of  the  past.  A  country 
merchant  who  had  purchased  a  large  amount  of 
goods  from  some  city  houses,  failed  in  his  pay- 
ments, and  made  a  proposition  to  his  creditors 
for  his  release  on  their  receipt  of  50  per  cent,  on 


OF   THE    MAN   OF    BUSINESS.  35 

his  obligations.  The  proposition  was  accepted, 
in  ignorance  of  the  real  state  of  his  affairs.  He 
subsequently  appeared  at  some  of  the  same  es- 
tablishments to  ask  for  a  new  credit,  and  when 
questioned  as  to  his  ability  to  pay,  boldly  al- 
leged that  he  had  now  a  handsome  cash  capital, 
for  which  he  accounted  in  the  statement  that 
the  assets  in  his  hands  from  his  former  failure, 
had  turned  out  far  better  than  he  expected. 
And  all  this  advance  he  considered  as  a  profit 
to  which  he  was  justly  entitled,  though  there 
was  still  unpaid  the  half  of  every  debt  he  owed 
before.  The  difficulties  of  active  business,  in 
such  circumstances  of  competition,  become  very 
great.  The  man  of  conscience,  honesty,  and 
truth,  must  often  be  content  with  small  gains 
during  the  period  of  such  a  contest,  in  the  con- 
stant assurance  of  the  compensating  fact,  that 
the  ultimate  result  of  his  operations  will  show 
him  to  have  been  no  loser  by  his  fidelity  to 
truth,  and  his  maintenance  of  an  incorruptible 
integrity  in  the  sight  of  God. 

These  various  perplexities  of  the  man  of  busi- 
ness involve  the  pressure  of  increasing  tempta- 
tions to  sacrifice  the  claims  of  honor  and  truth 
to  the  mere  promises  of  a  temporary  expe- 
diency.    But  let  it   never    be  forgotten   that 


36  PERPLEXITIES    AND   TEMPTATIONS 

tliere  is  a  principle  of  honor  in  tlie  discharge  of" 
human  business  which  "beams  with  just  as  keen 
a  defiance  on  the  most  accumulated  power  of 
temptation,  and  shines  with  an  undimmed  lustre 
in  the  most  secret  darkness  of  concealment. 
There  are  men  who  shrink  with  a  noble  abhor- 
rence from  the  contact  of  deceit,  and  turn  their 
backs  with  instant  loathing  from  all  the  delusive 
promises  of  ill-gotten  gain.  They  neither  look 
upon  the  tempting  cheat,  nor  hearken  to  its  most 
honeyed  solicitations.  The  interests  and  proper- 
ty of  others  are  as  safe  in  their  hands  as  in  the 
hands  of  the  owners  thereof.  Their  word  of  true 
and  candid  statement  of  facts  realizes  the  yea  and 
nay  of  the  divine  description  of  truthful  com- 
munication. Their  promise  is  a  sure  security, 
and  those  who  rely  upon  them,  never  find 
themselves  deceived.  Their  friendship  is  the 
very  soul  of  fidelity,  equally  an  honor  and  a 
pleasure  to  those  to  whom  it  is  extended.  Such 
men  are  the  nobility  of  trade.  The  community 
rejoice  in  their  success,  and  multitudes  par- 
take of  the  benefits  which  flow  from  it.  In 
influence,  in  example,  and  in  direct  efforts  for 
the  welfare  of  their  fellow  men,  their  inter- 
course with  others  is  like  the  genial  dew  of 
heaven,  everywhere  descending,  and  descending 


OF   THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  3T 

only  to  fertilize  and  bless.  The  walks  of  liber- 
ality are  distinguished  by  their  presence ;  hu- 
man wretchedness  blesses  their  life  ;  the  Church 
of  God  commemorates  their  benevolence  ;  and 
science  and  literature,  and  all  the  great  inter- 
ests of  humanity  and  the  public  welfare,  com- 
bine to  acknowledge  their  merits  and  to  en- 
rol their  reputation.  What  an  example  and 
excitement  are  such  competitors  to  the  young 
and  rising  man  of  business  !  And  how  "  like 
the  shining  light,  which  shineth  more  and  more 
unto  the  perfect  day,"  is  the  path  of  guidance 
and  encouragement  which  they  lay  open,  and 
in  which  they  walk  ! 

But  the  perplexities  of  business  often  bear 
hard  upon  this  principle  of  unblemished  and 
unrelaxing  honor,  and  men  of  feebler  principles, 
and  with  a  conscience  less  stern  in  its  demands, 
are  in  constant  danger  of  yielding  to  the  evil 
influence,  and  of  being  carried  away  by  the 
current  of  mere  covetousness  and  love  of  the 
world.  This  principle  of  personal  honor,  of  in- 
herent and  unchangeable  integrity,  is  daily 
tried,  and  either  becomes  daily  strengthened 
by  a  successful  contest  with  temptation,  or, 
yielding  in  little  things,  perishes  by  little  and 
little  ;  and  many  an  Hazael  who  scorns  the  warn- 


38  PERPLEXITIES    AISTD   TEMPTATIONS 

ing  against  possible  crime,  as  an  insult  wMch  f  e- 
proaches  him  as  if  lie  were  "  a  dog,"  finds  him- 
self reduced  by  his  heedlessness  of  the  tempta- 
tion, to  a  condition  of  disgrace  and  ruin  which 
dogs  might  pity.  The  first  sacrifice  of  honor 
and  truth  in  the  walk  of  business  is,  as  Solo- 
mon describes  the  starting  of  strife,  "  as  when 
one  letteth  out  water."  It  is  a  neglected  chink 
in  the  dam  ;  a  leak  which  will  hourly  grow  in 
its  power  and  certainty  of  destruction ;  which 
is  only  to  be  met  successfully  when  it  is  first  dis- 
covered, and  win  soon  attain  a  powel-  that  will 
mock  at  vigilance,  and  defy  restraint. 

The  temptation  comes  in  a  thousand  varied 
shapes,  and  no  man  of  business,  young  or  old, 
rich  or  poor,  in  trade,  or  profession,  or  handi- 
craft, can  feel  himself  exempted  from  its  ap- 
pearance, or  assured  of  security  against  its 
power.  The  sacrifice  demanded,  is  of  this  in- 
ward principle  of  conscience  and  truth  in  the 
sight  of  God.  The  prize  which  is  offered  is 
present  immediate  expediency  and  gain.  The 
urgency  to  compliance  is  from  the  necessities  of 
the  condition,  the  difficulties  of  mere  duty,  the 
pressure  of  the  perplexity  of  present  circum- 
stances, the  impossibility  of  applying  the  princi- 
ples of  mere  abstract  morality  to  the  exigencies 


OF   THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  89 

of  trade,  the  certainty  that  others  will  adopt 
the  expedient  proposed,  the  general  employment 
of  similar  deceptions  in  the  business  of  life,  and 
finally,  the  alleged  impossibility  of  transacting 
the  business  of  the  world  in  any  other  way.  It 
seems  to  offer  no  other  alternative  than  com- 
pliance with  conscious  falsehood  and  crime,  or 
exclusion  from  the  chosen  walks  of  professional 
trade. 

It  may  come  in  the  shape  of  false  representa- 
tions of  the  value  and  usefulness  of  articles  for 
sale  ;  or  of  delusive  trade  in  furnishing  the  ma- 
terials which  are  desired  and  demanded.  The 
specimen  may  be  far  better  than  the  stock 
which  it  is  claimed  to  represent,  or  the  light  in 
which  an  article  is  arranged,  or  the  artificial 
and  special  advantage  which  is  given  to  its  ap- 
pearance, may  delude  the  purchaser  into  the 
bargain,  while  the  seller  triumphs  in  the  gain 
which  he  has  received,  though  perfectly  con- 
scious of  the  cheat  and  the  loss  which  he  has  in- 
flicted upon  another.  A  young  druggist  of  our 
acquaintance,  whose  conscience  was  quick  in  its 
sensitiveness  to  truth  and  honesty,  once  applied 
to  an  older  Christian  friend,  with  the  statement, 
"  I  am  required  to  sell  three  different  articles  as 
medicines,  under  three  different  names,  to  pur- 


40  PERPLEXITIES    AND    TEMPTATIONS 

chasers  wlio  suppose  tliem  to  be  distinct  things, 
and  wlio  buy  tliem  as  sucli  for  distinct  purposes. 
And  yet  I  take  tliem  all  out  of  tlie  same  vessel, 
and  they  are  identically  the  same  thing.  How 
can  I  honestly  practise  a  deception  like  this  ?" 
And  yet  there  seemed  no  way  of  escape,  but  in 
the  sacrifice  of  his  place  and  all  the  advantages 
of  his  trade.  A  youthful  agent  in  a  large  gro- 
cery establishment  once  presented  to  us  a  simi- 
lar case.  "I  am  required  to  pack  barrels  of  su- 
gar with  a  small  proportion  of  sugar  of  a  finei* 
quality  at  each  end,  and  the  whole  of  the  cen- 
tre filled  up  with  an  inferior  kind ;  how  can  I 
do  it  V  Yet  such  an  adulteration  of  goods,  and 
such  schemes  of  delusive  trade,  are  so  extensive, 
that  the  honor  and  honesty  of  multitudes  of 
our  young  men  are  destroyed  in  their  mer- 
cantile education.  Their  integrity  of  heart 
and  nature  is  ground  completely  out  between 
the  stones  of  example  and  necessity ;  and  dis- 
honest masters  of  trade  thus  inoculate  their 
agents  with  a  virus  too  accordant  with  the  selfish 
spirit  of  maturing  man,  not  to  be  effective  and 
powerful  in  its  influence  upon  their  succeeding 
and  independent  life.  But  Christian  integrity 
and  honor  can  never  sanction  these  false  repre- 
sentations in  traffic,  whether  they  are  verbal  or 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSmESS.  41 

material.  No  authority  or  example  can  make 
them  right,  and  no  success  or  accumulation  of 
gain  can  make  them  finally  lucrative.  There 
may  be  losses  in  the  path  of  uprightness. 
The  way  of  deception  may  seem  right  in  a 
man's  eyes  for  the  occasion.  Violence  and  dis- 
honesty may  banish  the  agent  whose  honor  re- 
fuses compliance.  But  after  all  is  done,  it  will 
be  found  better  to  have  suffered  for  a  season 
with  a  good  conscience,  than  to  increase  our 
riches,  or  maintain  our  stand  in  outward  life,  by 
the  perpetration  of  conscious  crime.  The  man 
of  business  who  has  faithfully  withstood  this 
whole  array  of  varied  temptation,  and  who  can 
survey  all  his  gains  as  the  gifts  of  God  to  his 
unwavering  integrity,  usefulness  and  truth,  will 
have  an  enjoyment  in  the  retrospect  of  his 
days,  that  prospered  crime  can  never  gain; 
while  the  divine  testimony  will  be  sustained  by 
the  whole  history  of  human  traffic,  "  he  that 
getteth  riches  and  not  by  right,  shall  leave 
them  in  the  midst  of  his  days,  and  at  his  end 
shall  be  a  fool." 

The  temptation  comes  also  in  the  shape  of  a 
false  representation  of  personal  responsibility. 
The  former  course  led  to  an  unlawful  accumula- 
tion by  deceitful  sale.     This  leads  to  the  same 


42  PERPLEXITIES   ATTD   TEMPTATIONS 

resnit  by  a  withholding  of  honorable  and  just 
obligations.  Perhaps  there  is  no  shape  in  which 
the  temptation  to  deception  more  habitually 
arises  in  business  than  this.  It  constantly  oc- 
curs in  a  failure  in  trade — ^it  comes  in  a  false 
representation  of  the  value  and  availability  of 
assets ;  in  the  assertions  of  personal  ability  on 
the  basis  of  which  settlements  with  creditors 
are  to  be  made ;  in  the  assumption  of  the  suffi- 
ciency of  a  forced  settlement,  as  a  legal  and  just 
discharge  of  the  obligation  of  a  debt.  There  is 
an  habituation  to  this  species  of  transaction  in 
business,  which  makes  it  a  subject  of  expecta- 
tion when  embarrassments  and  difficulties  arise, 
and  which  almost  blinds  the  conscience  of  the 
debtor  to  the  reality  and  permanency  of  the 
obligation.  But  how  can  a  man  be  honest  in 
such  a  transaction?  He  compounds  with  a 
trusting  creditor  for  ten  per  cent,  perhaps,  or 
fifty  per  cent,  of  his  debt,  often  upon  the  basis 
of  a  false  statement  of  his  affairs;  and  thus 
holds  himself  honorably  released.  He  subse- 
quently engages  in  successful  trade,  or  is  em- 
ployed in  office  at  a  large  salary,  or  gains  remu- 
neration for  some  employment  of  talent  or  of 
time,  and  considers  himself  free  and  prosperous. 
He  builds  him  new  houses ;  sets  out  with  new 


OF   THE   3IAN   OF   BUSINESS.  43 

furniture  and  display ;  and  often  meets  tlie  men 
whose  hopes  lie  has  broken,  and  whose  families 
he  has  ruined,  with  an  unblushing  front,  and  a 
self-satisfied  smile  of  welcome,  while  he  honestly 
owes  them  it  may  be  ninety  per  cent,  of  all 
their  claim,  with  interest  accruing.  Can  he  be 
honest  ?  Can  he  be  religious  ?  Is  such  a  course 
to  meet  the  approbation  of  upright  men  ?  Can 
it  ever  deceive  a  God  of  truth  and  justice  ?  We 
answer,  nevee.  And  every  dollar  that  the  man 
subsequently  earns  is  the  righteous  property  of 
others,  until  his  whole  obligation  is  discharged. 
The  Romans  called  debt,  ces  alienum^  which 
may  be  translated,  "  another  man's  money,"  or 
"  stolen  copper."  Their  rigid  sense  of  justice 
would  not  allow  that  any  thing  which  the  debt- 
or held  was  his  own.  It  was  all  "  stolen  copper." 
It  must  always  be  so.  And  no  honorable  or 
conscientious  man  can  be  satisfied,  "until  he  has 
paid  the  uttermost  farthing  of  his  just  obliga- 
tions ;  and  no  position  ought  to  give  a  man  re- 
spectability among  men,  or  restore  the  confidence 
of  a  community  in  his  integrity,  while  he  with- 
holds from  others,  the  goods  which  are  so  justly 
and  entirely  their  own.  Most  certainly  all  that 
he  may  thus  appear  to  gain  will  be  under  the 
the  curse  of  emptiness  of  satisfaction,  and  fickle- 


44  PERPLEXITIES   AND   TEMPTATIONS 

ness  of  possession  in  his  future  years.  His 
money  will  he  held,  in  "  a  bag  full  of  holes ;" 
and  "  the  sweet  remembrance  of  the  just,"  can 
never  adorn  the  record  of  his  life. 

The  same  temptation  comes  habitually  in  the 
dealings  of  the  individual  with  the  public.  As 
a  member  of  a  community,  the  man  of  business 
owes  "  tribute  to  whom  tribute  is  due ;  and  cus- 
tom to  whom  custom."  His  amount  of  obliga- 
tion depends  upon  the  value  of  the  property 
which  he  holds.  The  social  estimate  of  the 
value  of  his  property  must  habitually  rest  upon 
their  confidence  in  the  truth  of  his  own  state- 
ment. It  is  fearful  to  think  of  the  amounts  and 
varieties  of  fraud  which  are  practised  under  this 
one  shape  of  an  attempted  escape  from  public 
burdens;  the  false  oaths  and  deceitful  state- 
ments which  are  made  to  avoid  the  impositions 
of  the  public  revenue,  so  that  the  Custom  House 
might  often  ahnost  be  called  the  temple  of  per- 
jury ;  the  hiding  of  legal  property  from  public 
taxation,  and  the  deceitful  asseverations  which 
are  made  of  the  value  of  property  legally  as- 
sessed, to  avoid  the  equitable  impost  thereon  ;  so 
that  fraudulent  men  of  large  possessions  often 
entirely  escape,  and  a  disproportionate  amount 
of  taxation  is  thrown  upon  the  honest  and  up- 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  45 

right  portion  of  the  community — whose  integ- 
rity and  honor  must  be  burdened  to  meet  the 
frauds  and  deceptions  of  less  conscientious  men. 
We  doubt  whether  any  temptation  to  false  re- 
presentations in  the  pecuniary  affairs  of  the  com- 
munity of  business  is  more  common  than  this. 
By  some  strange  delusion  in  their  medium  of 
perception  and  calculation,  men  often  consider 
such  frauds  far  less  guilty  than  those  which 
might  occur  in  the  mutual  transactions  of  indi- 
viduals. Many  a  man  who  could  not  be  per- 
suaded to  swear  falsely  in  a  court  of  justice,  or  to 
utter  a  deliberate  lie  in  private  to  his  neighbor, 
or  to  steal  from  the  property  of  another  in  the 
least  amount,  somehow  finds  his  conscience  far 
less  imperative  and  strict,  when  he  deals  with 
his  country  at  a  custom-house  desk,  or  with  his 
State  or  city  at  the  office  of  an  assessor  or  re- 
ceiver of  taxes.  But  the  purity  of  mercantile 
honor,  and  the  unvarying  rule  of  Christian  mo- 
rality, can  never  be  made  to  depend  upon  the 
changing  circumstances  of  individual  relations. 
Truth  and  justice  are  eternal  and  unchangeable. 
Their  claims  alter  with  no  circumstances.  And 
no  man  can  be  in  principle  an  honest  or  consci- 
entious man,  who  can  make  his  own  regard  to 
their  demands  vary  with  the  contingencies  of 


46  PERPLEXITIES   AND    TEMPTATIONS 

his  situation,  or  with  the  varying  character  of 
the  persons  with  whom  he  deals.  And  the 
more  pressing  and  habitual  and  undervalued  is 
the  kind  of  the  temptation,  the  more  circum- 
spectly and  sternly  will  the  upright  man  of 
business  resolve  to  walk  in  the  strait  and  nar- 
row way  of  perfect  rectitude  and  unchanging 
truth. 

The  temptation  which  a  life  of  business  pre- 
sents to  an  undue  occupation  of  time  must  also 
be  considered.  The  gain  of  wealth,  and  the 
transaction  of  the  business  which  its  varied  em- 
ployments demand,  will  always  be  a  life  of  toil 
and  labor.  To  rise  up  early  and  late  take  rest, 
must  be  everywhere  the  habitual  condition  of 
its  success.  The  combination  of  all  the  ele- 
ments of  perplexity  in  trade  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  bears  upon  this  necessity  for  the  in- 
creased and  often  excessive  occupation  of  time. 
Family  duties,  relative  domestic  obligations, 
personal  intellectual  improvement,  and  all  the 
refining  relaxations  of  social  life,  are  often  sacri- 
ficed in  this  one  pursuit  of  gain.  The  father 
and  the  husband  lives  in  almost  entire  separa- 
tion from  the  family  whom  he  is  bound  to  bring 
up  for  God,  and  while  he  has  been  occupied  in 
a  fancied  accumulation  for   their   benefit,  the 


OF   THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  47 

whole  prospects  and  interests  of  tlieir  character 
and  welfare,  may  have  been  made  a  part  of  the 
price  which  he  has  paid  for  gain.  It  would  he 
well  if  this  were  all.  But  there  is  a  deeper  and 
more  precious  interest  still,  which  is  just  as 
habitually  sacrificed  in  the  same  course  of  trade. 
We  speak  of  the  interests  of  the  soul.  Its 
hour  of  communion  with  God  in  prayer  — 
the  morning  and  evening  refreshment  of  a  la- 
borer weary  in  his  toil,  and  the  rest  of  a  pilgrim 
in  his  daily  journey — ^is  carelessly  thrown  aside. 
It  becomes  first  formal  and  perfunctory  in  the 
process  of  this  decay,  and  then  ceases  even  in 
the  form.  The  word  of  God,  the  great  armory 
of  the  Christian's  strength  in  the  warfare  of  the 
earth,  is  neglected,  laid  aside,  and  forgotten  ;  till 
at  last,  in  the  regular  and  unremitted  descent  of 
the  soul  from  its  high  relations,  God  is  no  more 
remembered,  and  the  man  learns  to  live  without 
him  in  the  world.  Easily,  then,  the  time  of  the 
six  days'  labor  is  found  inadequate  for  the  pur- 
poses which  are  proposed.  The  rest  of  the 
seventh  is  coveted  and  stolen.  When  the  soul 
is  no  longer  alive  to  God,  the  repose  of  the 
Sabbath  is  transformed  from  improvement  to 
idleness.  It  may  be  that  amusement  and  dissi- 
pation will  be  seized  upon  as  a  means  to  hurry 


48  PERPLEXITIES    AND   TEMPTATIONS 

its  wearisome  passage.  The  excess  of  the  ex- 
citement of  the  week  is  often  found  to  make 
the  quietness  of  the  Sabbath  an  intolerable 
contrast;  and  the  man  whose  nervous  system 
has  been  on  the  stretch  in  all  the  preceding 
days  of  toil,  finds  himself  perfectly  languid  and 
wretched  unless  he  can,  by  some  varying  of  the 
earnestness  of  occupation,  keep  up  the  unnatural 
and  overwrought  condition.  The  home  is  desert- 
ed, the  church  despised,  and  the  roadside  tavern 
or  the  noisy  joviality  of  some  country  assembly 
of  similar  tastes  and  habits,  is  made  the  substi- 
tute for  that  heavenly  rest  in  social  life,  which 
the  Lord,  who  made  the  Sabbath  for  man,  has 
appointed  as  his  "  tired  nature's  sweet  restorer." 
The  excess  of  the  weekly  labor  becomes  a  suffi- 
cient excuse  for  the  Sabbath  idleness ;  or  the 
Sabbath  desecration  becomes  a  part  of  the  price 
which  deluded  man  is  tempted  to  pay  for  gain. 
Often  the  same  cause  demands  also  the  employ- 
ment of  the  Sabbath  in  the  continuance  of  the 
weekly  labor ;  and  the  hours  of  God's  holy 
time  are  robbed  for  the  writing  up  of  bool^,  or  the 
maintenance  of  a  correspondence,  for  which  no 
adequate  time  is  found  beside.  The  divine  com- 
mand is  nothing.  The  welfare  of  the  soul  is  no- 
thing. The  hopes  of  the  future  world  are  nothing. 


OF   THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  49 

The  religious  life  and  character  of  a  family  are 
nothing.  The  traditional  effect  of  example  is 
nothing.  The  holiness  and  happiness  of  the 
community  are  nothing.  But  gain  is  every 
thing.  And  the  man  of  business  finds  the 
temptation  press  him  on  every  side,  to  make 
his  gold  his  god,  the  present  world  his  all,  and 
earthly  accumulation  the  Moloch  to  whom  he 
makes  at  last  the  ready  and  cheerful  holocaust 
of  all  that  is  dignified  in  his  nature,  happy  in 
his  condition,  or  hopeful  in  his  prospects.  And 
what  has  he  gained,  when  God  takes  away  his 
soul  ?  His  birthright  sold  for  a  mess  of  pottage 
—  his  blessing  bartered  for  an  hour's  enjoy- 
ment, or  a  life  with  no  enjoyment — ^his  hope  in 
God  sacrificed  for  gains  which  have  perished  in 
the  using — and  himself  left  to  the  prospect  of 
a  gloomy  and  unprovided  departure,  a  dying 
hour  with  no  comfort  or  hope;  while  of  all 
that  he  hath  gained  he  can  carry  nothing  away 
with  him — ^but  naked  as  he  came,  must  he  also 
go,  and  look  forward  to  an  account  before  a 
Being  whose  eyes  of  truth  will  not  be  mocked, 
and  can  not  be  deceived. 

Are  such  sacrifices  as  these  demanded  by  a 
life  of  business?  May  not  man  fill  up  the 
measure  of  his  personal  and  relative  responsi- 


50  PERPLEXITIES   AND   TEMPTATIONS 

bility  at  a  price  less  than  this  ?  Has  Ms  Crea- 
tor placed  Mm  where  lie  can  not  be  honest 
without  ruin,  or  prosper  without  crime  ?  Let 
us  go  back  to  our  first  and  fundamental  princi- 
ples. Life  must  be  regarded  in  its  real  charac- 
ter and  relations ;  and  the  comparative  value 
of  the  objects  for  which  it  was  given,  be  justly 
and  proportionately  valued. 

**It  is  not  all  of  life  to  live, 
Nor  all  of  death  to  die." 

There  is  something  in  the  life  more  than  meat, 
and  in  the  body  more  than  raiment,  and  this  in- 
valuable something,  this  heavenly  trust,  with  all 
its  issues  and  responsibilities,  must  be  kept  in 
view.  There  is  a  soul  which  God  hath  loved, 
which  his  Son  hath  redeemed,  which  his  Spirit 
would  sanctify,  and  for  which  he  has  prepared 
an  inheritance  incorruptible  in  the  heavens.  It 
must  never  be  forgotten.  Sin  is  its  destruction. 
And  sin  is  to  be  measured,  not  by  the  ways 
and  thoughts  of  man,  but  by  the  law  of  God. 
Life  is  the  scene  and  place  of  the  education  and 
trial  of  this  immortal  soul  in  preparation  for  an 
eternal  being.  Every  lawful  occupation  of 
man  is  the  appointed  place  in  which  this  edu- 
cation and  trial  are  individually  to  be  carried 


OF  THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  51 

out,  and  every  act  or  duty  which  makes  up  a 
part  of  that  occupation,  exercises  an  undying 
influence  upon  the  destinies  and  hopes  of  this 
immortal  being.  Thus  must  man  estimate  and 
thus  must  he  regard  the  elements  of  his  condi- 
tion here,  the  portions  of  his  lot  on  earth. 
Every  hour  and  every  act  may  be  a  step  on- 
ward to  his  crowning  glory.  Every  occurring 
perplexity  is  an  appointed  test  of  his  faith  and 
his  obedience.  Every  changing  relation  is 
bringing  out  a  new  aspect  of  his  progressive  tui- 
tion and  exercise,  and  each  day  as  it  passes,  he 
is  laying  up  the  foundation  against  the  time  to 
come,  either  of  increasing  virtue  that  has  con- 
tended without  injury  through  its  successive 
trials,  or  of  vain  and  deluding  selfishness  which 
wiU  leave  him  helpless  and  empty  and  despairing 
in  the  end.  By  all  the  value  of  these  imperish- 
able interests,  and  by  all  the  dangers  and  con- 
tests to  which  they  are  exposed,  would  we 
entreat  the  young  man  of  business  to  use  the 
world  as  not  abusing  it ;  to  make  the  tried  and 
unchanging  word  of  God  his  constant  guide, 
bringing  every  gain,  every  employment,  and 
every  temptation,  to  its  holy  and  unrelaxing 
standard ;  and  so  to  press  onward  through  all 


52  THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS. 

the  cares  and  temptations  of  his  varied  life,  that 
they  shall  all  be  made  to  stand  as  living  wit- 
nesses of  his  proved  fidelity,  before  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  an  unchangeable  and  compensating 
God. 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS 


THEIR     HOME     KESPONSIBILITIES. 


ISAAC  FERRIS,  D.D. 


HOME    RESPONSIBILITIES 


OP   THE 


MAN    OF    BUSINESS, 


It  is  not  long,  since  tlie  sweet  voice  of  the 
Swedish  choralist  sent  home,  with  thrilling 
power,  to  many  hearts,  "  Home,  Sweet  Home."" 
Though  heard  often,  when  did  that  song  seem 
half  so  sweet  as  then  ?  and  when  did  the  heart 
so  swell  with  joyous  emotion  and  with  love  of 
home  ? 

We  Anglo-Saxons  speak  of  the  true  idea  of 
home  as  peculiarly  our  own.  "Whether  this  be 
true  or  not,  we  can  not  well  exalt  too  highly  the 
value  of  home,  nor  watch  too  tenderly  over  its 
character  and  interests. 

Home :  it  is  a  little  world ;  it  has  its  own  in- 
terests, its  own  laws,  its  own  difficulties  and  sor- 
sows,  its  own  blessings    and  joys.      It   is  the 


2  HOME   EESPONSIBILITIES 

sanctuary  of  tlie  heart,  where  tlie  affections  are 
clierislied  in  the  tenderest  relations — where 
heart  is  joined  to  heart,  and  love  triumphs  over 
all  selfish  calculations.  It  is  the  training-school 
of  the  tender  plants  which  in  after  years  are  to 
yield  flowers  and  fruits  to  parental  care.  It  is 
the  fountain  whence  come  the  streams  which 
beautify  and  enliven  social  life. 

If  any  man  should  have  a  home,  it  is  the  man 
of  business.  He  is  the  true  working  man  of  the 
community.  The  mechanic  has  his  fixed  hours, 
and  when  these  have  run  their  course  he  may, 
ere  the  day  closes,  dismiss  all  anxiety  as  his 
labor  ends,  and  seek  the  home  circle.  Compar- 
atively little  has  been  the  tax  on  his  mind,  and 
not  much  more  on  his  physical  system,  as  he 
learns  to  take  all  easy.  But  the  man  of  busi- 
ness is  under  a  constant  pressure.  His  is  not  a 
ten-hour  system,  with  an  interval  of  rest ;  but 
he  is  driven  onward  and  onward,  early  and  late, 
without  the  calculation  of  hours.  He  must  be 
employed.  In  the  earnestness  of  competition — 
in  the  complexity  of  modern  modes  of  business 
— in  the  fluctuations  which  frequently  occur — in 
the  solicitous  dependence  on  the  fidelity  and  in- 
tegrity of  others — ^he  has  no  leisure  moments 
during  the  day.    With  a  mind  incessantly  under^ 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  6 

exciting  engagements,  and  a  body  without  its 
appropriate  nutriment,  lie  may  well  pant  for 
home,  and  hail  the  moment  when  he  may 
escape  from  his  toils  to  seek  its  quiet,  and  its 
affection  and  confidence. 

But  that  home  should  not  be  an  Hotel  horns. 
The  arrangement  which  carries  so  many  families 
to  rooms  in  a  hotel,  must  be  sadly  deficient  ip 
meeting  the  w^ants  of  the  toil-worn.  Its  forms 
and  ceremonial  coldness — its  gaudy  dress  re- 
quirements and  its  heartlessness — its  tendency 
to  social  dissipation — ^its  whole  artificial  charac- 
ter, with  its  deteriorating  influences  on  the  child- 
ren and  youth  of  a  family — ^make  it  any  thing 
but  a  home.  Many  regard  it  as  a  refuge  from 
the  trouble  of  "  help  "  management ;  but,  while 
this  may  be  doubted,  dearly  do  they  pay  for  the 
want  of  a  little  courage  and  decision,  in  being 
deprived  of  many  nameless  comforts  which  an 
old-fashioned  home  furnishes. 

The  man  of  business  should  have  a  home ; 
not  a  mere  dormitory,  Alas  !  what  an  abuse  it 
is  to  call  the  mere  lodging-place,  which  a  man 
reaches  after  dark,  and  which  he  leaves  after  a 
breakfast  taken  often  by  candle-light,  a  home. 
Mr.  X.  L.  M.  has  a  superb  property,  eight  miles 
from  town,  on  the  main  thoroughfare  out  of  the 


4  HOME   KESPONSIBILITEES 

city ;  every  passer-by  admires  it.  But  wliat  is 
it  to  him,  as  lie  scarcely  sees  it  by  daylight,  ex- 
cept on  Sunday  ?  To  what  does  all  his  outlay 
in  garden  statuary,  and  beautiful  flowers,  and 
picturesque  rivulets,  amount  in  his  case  ?  It  is 
his  own,  it  is  true ;  this  gives  him  a  feeling  of 
independence ;  but  what  delight  does  he  drink 
in,  and  what  participation  has  he  with  his  fam- 
ily, in  that  which  should  be  a  common  source 
of  enjoyment?  To  them  there  is  little  of  real 
enjoyment,  as  the  feehng  of  loneliness  mars  all ; 
while  he  is  very  much  as  the  man  who  puts  up 
for  the  night  at  the  house  opposite,  called  "  The 
Traveller's  Home."  They  both  tarry  for  a 
night. 

It  is  a  very  grave  question  whether  a  man  in 
all  this  is  doing  himself  justice,  either  mentally 
or  physically — whether  he  is  meeting,  or  is  in  a 
condition  to  meet,  the  claims  which  the  members 
of  his  family  have  on  him;  and,  especially, 
whether  he  thus  meets  or  can  meet  his  responsi- 
bility to  God,  who  places  the  solitary  in  fami- 
lies ;  or  to  society,  which  must  receive  its  con- 
trolling influences  from  his  and  similar  circles. 
It  is  to  be  feared  that  we  are  degenerating  in 
our  ideas  of  home,  as  we  are  growing  in  wealth 
and  multiplying  our  luxuries — ^that  just  so  far 


.OF   THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  5 

as  we  depart  from  the  view  of  home  which  our 
fathers  cherished,  so  are  we  removing  from  our 
true  interest,  and  throwing  ourselves  on  what  is 
superficial  and  ephemeral. 

There  are  views  to  be  taken  of  this  important 
subject  which  lead  directly  to  a  very  different 
course  from  that  now  pursued,  and  which,  while 
they  raise  our  estimate  of  home,  show  that 
great  duties  are  involved,  and  that  our  happi- 
ness is  identified  with  their  discharge. 

It  is  proposed  to  trace  some  of  these  under 
the  general  designation  of  tlie  husiness  man  at 
home. 

What  is  the  business  man's  relation  to  home  ? 

He  is  its  Governor ;  he  is  its  Provider ;  he  is 
its  Educator ;  he  is  its  Priest. 

THE    HOME    GOVEENOE. 

The  business  man — ^the  head  of  influence, 
th^  controlling,  regulating  power  of  the  home 
circle — first  claims  our  attention. 

It  was  said  of  a  family  of  peculiar  idiosyn- 
cratic character,  where  waywardness  and  self- 
will  had  sway,  "  Oh !  they  came  up,  they  were 
not  brought  up."  How  much  of  cutting  rebuke 
was  expressed  in  those  words,  and  what  a  key 


6  HOME   RESPONSIBILITIES 

it  furnislied  to  tlie  errant  courses  of  those  it 
characterized !  This  remark  tells  in  brief  the 
tale  of  many  a  family  circle,  and  at  once  devel- 
opes  the  source  of  many  evils  we  deplore. 

Government  is  a  divine  principle,  and  we  are 
so  constituted  that  it  can  not  be  dispensed  with. 
It  must  be  found  wherever  living  creatures  are 
found.  It  is  the  grand  preservative  against  con- 
fusion, disorder,  and  the  domination  of  evil  pas- 
sion. Let  the  reins  be  thrown  on  the  neck  of 
the  young  steed,  and  what  unhappy  consequen- 
ces will  follow.  Let  infirm  childhood  and  youth 
have  its  way,  and  sadder  still  will  be  the  issues. 
On  this  point  we  have  much  to  regret.  In 
the  land  of  our  forefathers,  domestic  govern- 
ment and  control  have  not  been  sacrificed  to 
mere  theories  on  the  development  of  juvenile 
manliness  and  independence.  The  junior  mem- 
bers of  a  family  know  and  keep  their  place,  and 
are  submissive  to  a  legitimate  and  necessary 
authority  in  the  hands  of  the  parent. 

It  is  said  by  experienced  teachers  that  they 
can  tell,  ordinarily,  what  is  the  influence  and 
what  the  checks  at  home,  and  that  there  is  a 
great  want  of  home  government,  as  indicated 
by  the  views  and  feelings  shown  by  their  pu- 
pils.    Children  among  us  very  early  are  led  to 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  7 

feel  that  every  thing  must  be  subservient  to 
their  wishes — ^that  no  labor  must  be  imposed, 
even  in  preparation  for  life,  which  would  be 
irksome,  and  that  the  checks  must  be  silken  and 
soffc. 

What  would  the  gardener  say  to  the  policy 
of  suffering  his  plants  to  grow  as  they  will, 
with  no  trimming,  no  training,  no  weeding — all 
luxuriance,  wildness,  entanglement,  confusion? 
What  hope  would  he  feel  warranted  in  cherish- 
ing concerning  the  flowering  and  the  fruitage  ? 
But  in  the  case  of  children,  there  is  something 
beyond  mere  luxuriance — ^there  is  a  nature 
whose  tendencies  are  to  evil;  and  unchecked, 
ungoverned,  they  are  developed  in  various 
grades  of  depravity,  and  must  end  in  ruin,  if  a 
gracious  Providence  does  not  interfere. 

There  must  be  government,  and  that  in  the 
hands  of  the  father.  "  God  hath  set  him  to  be 
the  head  of  his  house,"  and  holds  him  respon- 
sible. For  this  there  is  no  just  substitution.  A 
mother  has  a  most  important  place,  and  her 
hand  must  be  felt  always ;  but  she  should  not  be 
left  alone.  The  burden  is  not  primarily  or  just- 
ly hers.  Invaluable,  blessed,  thrice  blessed 
auxiliary,  she  leads  and  moulds,  while  the  au- 
thority which  has  chief  control  is  one  step  be- 


8  HOME   RESPONSIBILITIES 

yond.  It  is  unkind  to  constrain  her  to  go  be- 
yond this.  If  called  by  bereaving  providences 
to  unite  both  in  one,  she  has  been  found  ade- 
quate. If  maternal  influence  must  be  regarded 
as  secondary,  where  authority  is  concerned,  with 
all  the  nearness  and  affection  involved  in  her 
relations,  then,  certainly,  the  judgment  must  go 
against  the  transfer  to  those  who  sustain  the 
position  of  an  employed  governorship.  It  re- 
mains to  be  shown  that  a  father  may  give  to 
tutors  and  governesses  the  exclusive  direction 
and  control  of  his  sons  and  daughters.  Im- 
perative necessity  may  sometimes  force  this 
upon  a  man,  and  then  his  circumstances 
exculpate  him.  in  the  sight  of  God;  but  he 
is  not  allowed  by  the  divine  constitution  of 
the  domestic  circle,  from  mere  fashion,  or 
unwillingness  to  bear  the  trouble  of  it,  to  put 
off  on  another  what  belongs  to  himself.  The 
violation  of  the  law  here  will  be  as  certainly 
followed  by  its  appropriate  penalty,  as  in  other 
cases.  If  a  man's  numerous  engagements  pre- 
vent a  fulfillment  of  this  duty,  he  has  something 
to  reform.  He  has  no  right  to  entangle  him- 
self so  as  to  be  thrust  out  of  his  proper 
course.  Here  are  primary,  vital  duties,  and  they 
should  give  a  shaping  to  other  out-door  mat- 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  9 

ters,  and  not  take  it  from  them.  A  man  must 
"  make  time,"  and  if  lie  has  the  right  spirit,  he 
will  find  time.  If  he  must  be  more  with  his 
children,  he  can  and  he  will  curtail,  or  so  modify 
other  demands,  as  to  be  with  them.  The  want 
of  time,  so  much  pleaded,  perhaps  in  more 
cases  than  it  would  be  pleasant  to  confess,  grows 
out  of  a  morbid  appetite  for  business  and  gain. 
Is  it  not  true  that  multitudes  plunge  into  mul- 
tiplied and  oppressive  engagements,  simply  be- 
cause they  are  in  haste  to  be  rich,  and  cannot 
wait  the  prudent  and  slower  process  of  their 
fathers  ? 

If  the  business  man  must  be  the  governoi' 
over  his  own  home,  the  next  inquiry  is,  What 
should  be  the  character  of  his  administration  ? 

A  ready  answer  can  be  given.  It  should  be 
distinguished  Inj  the  spirit  of  hindness  and  love., 
mingling  with  authority.  Some  seem  to  think 
that  a  stern,  cold,  formal,  authoritative  manner 
becomes  the  father — ^that  his  dignity  and  influ- 
ence may  be  lessened  in  proportion  as  he  un- 
bends to  his  children.  Such  a  course  has  its 
influence  ;  but  it  is  far  from  desirable — ^indeed, 
positively  hurtful.  It  tends  to  chill  the  young 
heart,  and  keep  at  a  cold  distance,  and  induce 
rather  a  feeling  of  fear  and  dread,  than  of  re- 


10  HOME   EESPONSIBILITIES 

spect  or  regard.  It  is  mucli  to  be  deplored,  tliat 
any  man  should  so  use  his  position  as  to  make 
liis  absence  a  grateful  relief,  and  Ms  returning 
step  and  voice  watched  with  a  feeling  of  trepid- 
ation. Such  a  man  can  never  expect  the 
young  heart  to  bring  its  troubles  to  him  for  his 
counsel  and  his  sympathy;  but  it  will  seek 
beyond  his  own  circle  for  what  it  needs,  making 
friends  of  the  sympathizing  without,  and  com- 
mitting itself  to  auspices  which  may  lead  astray. 
Such  a  man,  with  austere  manner,  and  positive, 
absolute,  master-like  voice,  throws  away  the 
admirable  advantages  his  position  and  relation 
offer  to  carry  his  children  with  him  in  the  path 
they  go.  If  he  claim  to  be  a  good  man,  with  such 
a  manner,  he  will  induce  the  feeling  of  delight  in 
the  bosoms  of  his  children  to  get  into  scenes 
where  they  may  throw  off  restraint,  and  indulge 
feelings  which  have  been  only  dammed  up  by 
necessity,  but  never  directed  or  modified. 

The  period  of  childhood  is  that  of  warm, 
gushing  feeling — of  confiding  love — of  ready 
imitation  of  what  it  loves.  He  who  would 
manage  his  charge  wisely  and  successfully  must 
not  place  the  authority  foremost.  A  ready 
sympathy;  the  allowance  of  full  play  for  all 
the  endearing  actions  of  a  little  one ;  the  mani- 


OF   THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  11 

fest  influence  of  warm  love  and  solicitude  for  its 
welfare,  even  in  small  matters — will  secure, 
from  the  earliest  years,  that  regard  and  reliance 
which,  will  make  his  word,  his  nod,  his  look 
effective,  as  character  is  developed.  Then 
government  will  he  easy,  restraints  will  be 
cheerfully  submitted  to,  and  he  will  become  the 
preferred  counsellor  and  the  chosen  friend, 
when  such  are  most  needed.  It  does  not  follow 
from  this  that  a  man  must  become  indulgent, 
and  yield  to  the  vain  wishes  and  imaginary 
wants  of  his  children :  this  would  not  be  true 
love,  but  weakness.  Such  indulgence  is  one  ex- 
treme, while  the  overbearing,  despotic  air  is  the 
other.  When  the  law  of  love  is  the  law  of  the 
house,  home  becomes  the  sweet  retreat  it  was 
intended  to  be  by  our  beneficent  Creator.  And 
what  but  thiB  law  should  obtain,  where  the 
relations  are  so  tender  and  the  interests  so 
momentous  ? 

His  administration  should  be  intelligent  and 
reasonable.  A  man  should  seek  to  understand 
what  is  duty,  in  his  circumstances,  and  what  is 
right,  and  look  carefully  into  all  his  relations, 
and  understand  what  belongs  to  each.  As  he 
is  not  infallible,  his  decisions  may  be  wrong,  and 
his  requirements  unjust.     It  is  not  enough,  in 


12  HOME   RESPONSIBILITIES 

order  to  make  an  act  right,  that  a  father  requires 
it,  though  that  may  claim  for  it  filial  attention 
and  regard.  A  man  may  make  his  require- 
ments on  an  imperfect  or  wrong  view ;  his  mind 
may  have  been  biased,  or  the  tone  of  his  own 
feelings  may  be  affected  unfavorably,  and  then 
he  may  act  unadvisedly,  and  subsequently  will 
regret  the  course  pursued  ;  but  then  to  correct 
what  was  wrong  may  be  beyond  his  power. 
Home  government  should  be  eminently  reason- 
able, not  asking  too  much  nor  too  little — ^not 
unduly  magnifying  all  little  things  and  making 
them  subjects  of  rebuke ;  and  yet  not  omitting 
such  little  things  as  obviously  prepare  the  way 
for  other  matters  of  high  moment. 

Some  deem  it  necessary  to  give  a  reason  for 
every  thing  required.  .  This  may  be  and  is  well, 
to  an  extent;  but  there  are  many  things  oc- 
curring in  reference  to  which  it  may  be  im- 
practicable, or  even  unwise.  A  child  may  not 
be  capable  of  understanding  or  appreciating  it ; 
higher  interests  may  require  that  a  good  and 
sufficient  reason  should  be  assumed  to  influence 
the  matter ;  and  sometimes  positive  evil  might 
result  if  the  reason  for  every  thing  be  commit- 
ted to  a  child.  Where  the  training  is  right,  it 
will,  in  such  cases,  satisfy  the  juvenile  inquirer 


OF    THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  13 

tliat  father  wishes  and  directs  him  to  do  a  cer- 
tain thing,  and  therefore  he  will  do  it. 

His  administration  should  be  firm  and  uni- 
form^  and  not  fitful,  impulsive,  and  excited. 

One  of  the  most  unhappy  things  which  could 
occur  with  a  group  of  little  ones  would  be  that 
of  having  a  varying,  vacillating  head,  in  whose 
decisions  no  reliance  could  be  placed.  A  man- 
agement which  to-day  approves  and  to-morrow 
disapproves  an  act — which  to-day  rebukes  a 
trifle  sharply  and  to-morrow  passes  over  a  se- 
rious misdemeanor  without  a  remark — which 
to-day  draws  the  check  strongly  and  to-morrow 
throws  the  way  open  to  any  indulgence — which 
is  rigid  before  company  and  indifferent  when 
the  circle  are  alone — only  tends  to  undermine 
all  regard,  and  leaves  necessarily  an  unhappy 
impression  on  a  child's  mind.  It  resolves  all 
government  into  parental  whim,  or  parental 
weakness,  or  sheer  policy.  It  is  without  prin- 
ciple :  no  desirable  habit  can  be  formed  under 
it ;  and  youth  emerging  from  its  influence  can 
have  no  just  conception  of  what  they  ought  to 
be  or  to  do. 

It  is  not  assumed  here  that  no  man  may 
change  his  mode  of  government  at  any  time ; 
for  he  is  ever  learning,  and  may  come  to  see  that 


14  HOIirE   RESPONSIBILITIES 

he  has  fallen  into  some  mistakes  ;  or  he  may,  in 
new  circumstances  which  arise,  find  one  regimen 
preferable  to  another  ;  or  special  cases  may  con- 
trol his  mode  of  action.  But  allowing  all  this,  the 
hand  should  be  firm,  and  the  application  of  rules 
steady  and  uniform,  while  corrections  of  modes 
should  not  be  violent  or  great.  There  is  no 
department  in  life  m  which  the  character  given 
by  the  dying  patriarch  to  Reuben,  "  unstable  as 
water,"  is  not  to  be  deplored.  What  would  it 
be  in  a  general,  what  would  it  be  in  business 
itself,  what  in  friendship,  what  in  the  various 
relations  of  affection,  what  anywhere  and  every- 
where, but  an  evidence  of  weakness  ?  Child- 
ren are  copyists,  and  of  those  most  nearly  allied 
to  them  especially ;  and  in  copying  such  a 
character,  or,  in  other  words,  nurtured  to  go  on 
with  no  fixed,  settled  views  of  the  duties  of 
life,  and  seeing  daily  nothing  uniform  in  the 
head  of  the  home  circle,  how  unfitted  must 
they  be  for  the  relations  of  mature  years,  and 
what  but  undesirable  influences  can  society  ex- 
pect from  them  ?  He  that  holds  a  firm  hand, 
and  is  calm,  and  keeps  under  impulsiveness  of 
feeling,  is  a  wise  man.  He  may  be  conceived 
of  as  a  charioteeer,  guiding  a  spirited  pair  over 
a  narrow  road,  dangerous  for  its  rocks  or  pre- 
cipices on  either  side. 


OF    THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  15 

His  administration  at  home  should  be  U7i- 
affected  hy  ilie  vexations  and  disappointments 
ivithout. 

Why  should  they  who  await  a  father's  return 
with  sunny  faces  and  sparkling  eyes,  suffer  for 
the  uncomfortable  things  which  may  have  over- 
taken one  in  the  conflicts  and  vicissitudes  of 
business  ?  or  why,  if  at  home  some  dark  cloud 
may  have  come  over  the  scene,  should  the  de- 
pression be  deepened,  or  the  sadness  be  increas- 
ed by  a  brow  made  sullen  by  some  act  of  in- 
justice or  villainy  "down  in  town,"  or  by  a 
discouraged,  desponding  air,  because  some  loss 
has  been,  sustained  ?  The  first  is  clearly  unjust 
to  those  at  home :  for  why  should  they  be  visit- 
ed for  what  is  not  their  fault  ?  and  the  latter  is 
unkind  and  unwise :  for  why  make  the  sad  sad- 
der, and  why  double  one's  own  troubles  and 
unfit  one's  self  for  the  duties  to  be  performed  ? 
It  is  remarked  that  some  fathers  are  painfully 
sensitive  to  the  natural  vivacity  and  playfulness 
of  their  children — cross,  severe,  and  can  bear 
nothing  when  business  has  gone  iH ;  and  all  soon 
learn  to  stand  out  of  the  way  and  shun  the  risk 
of  some  unkind  word  or  act.  How  unwise  for 
a  man  to  put  away  from  him  the  panacea  for 
what  he  has  suffered — ^the  affections  warm,  ten- 


16  HOME   RESPONSIBILITIES 

der,  most  entire,  whicli  would  be  a  balm  to  Ms 
wounded  spirit !  Such  a  course  almost  puts  a 
man  on  a  par  witL.  the  hard  drinker,  who  noto- 
riously abuses  those  at  home,  on  his  return  from 
his  carousal,  however  good-natured  he  may  be 
at  other  times.  Home  should  be  a  sanctuary, 
over  whose  threshold,  and  into  whose  shelter, 
such  things  should  not  be  allowed. 

The  home  administration  should  be  imj^artial. 
The  children  and  youth  of  the  home  circle 
have  an  equal  claim  for  such  regard,  and  in- 
terest, and  care,  as  their  circumstances  require. 
Some  may  be  infirm  or  sickly,  or  overtaken  by 
an  afflictive  stroke,  or  be  more  juvenile — ^then, 
particular  forms  of  care  may  be  called  for  ;  but 
a  difference  in  fundamental  regard  can  not  be 
justified.  One  man  makes  pets  of  his  girls, 
another,  of  his  boys  ;  one,  of  his  oldest,  or  first- 
born, another,  of  his  namesake ;  one,  of  the 
children  of  a  first  wife,  another,  of  those  of  a 
second.  Now  what  can  be  the  effect  of  these, 
or  any  similar  partialities,  but  to  build  up  walls 
of  separation  between  children — engender  un- 
kind feelings,  where  all  should  be  union  and 
harmony?  What  depressions  and  discourage- 
ments must  be  felt  by  the  neglected,  or  the  less 
favored  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  what  liberties 


OF   THE   MAN    OF    BUSLD^SS.  17 

taken,  what  domination  exercised,  by  the  favor- 
ed and  caressed! 

The  history  of  Jacob  illustrates  the  evils  of 
such  partiality  in  most  touching  details,  and 
shows  how  it  recoils  on  the  parent  guilty  of  it. 

How  can  you  avoid  being  drawn  more  to  a 
child  that  is  kind,  attentive,  docile  and  obe- 
dient, than  to  one  that  is  restive,  gives  you  in- 
cessant trouble,  and  is  at  every  opportunity  dis- 
obeying ?  says  one.  Our  present  comfort  may 
be  abridged  by  the  naughty  one  ;  but  that  is  no 
just  reason  for  difference  of  regard,  and  certain- 
ly none  for  showing  a  preference.  If  any  feel- 
ings arise  inclining  to  one  rather  than  another, 
they  should  be  jealously  watched,  lest  their 
influence  prevent  the  proper  discharge  of  duty 
towards  a  wayward  one,  who,  by  the  very  fact 
of  his  peculiarity,  needs  special  attention  and 
care.  If  a  man  will  drive  away  to  greater  ex- 
tremes the  little  one  who  taxes  his  patience,  let 
him  show  partiality,  let  him  forego  kindness  to 
him,  and  he  will  sow  seeds  of  discomfort,  whose 
product  will  be,  to  himself,  a  heart  full  of 
sorrow  and  trouble.  ISTo :  this  a  conscientious 
father  will  not  do ;  he  will  find  some  ground  of 
hope  ;  he  will  labor  more  assiduously  to  win  the 
erring  one. 


18  HOME  eespo:n^sibilities 

The  liome  administration  should  be  fully  ap- 
preciative of  what  is  right  and  wrong — ^what  is 
well  or  what  is  ill  done  on  the  part  of  a  child. 
Justice  is  an  essential  ingredient  of  good  gov- 
ernment. Two  things  are  contemplated  here : 
proper  visitation  for  deviations,  and  the  perpe- 
tration of  wrong ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
reward  of  well-doing.  Concerning  the  former, 
it  may  be  remarked,  chastisements  are  of  many 
kinds.  The  extreme,  last  resort,  is  the  personal 
infliction  of  the  rod ;  and,  while  the  juvenile 
nature  is  what  it  is,  this  must,  in  circumstances, 
be  employed,  if  a  man  will  not  spoil  his  child. 
There  is  a  sickly  sentimentality  prevalent  with 
some  on  this  point,  perhaps  the  result  of  an  ex- 
cessive use  of  the  rod  in  some  injudicious  hands, 
and  they  will  have  it  abandoned,  as  too  horri- 
ble. But  the  most  observant  know  that  it  is 
wholesome  that  the  errant  one  should  under- 
stand that  there  is  one  at  hand,  if  necessity  re- 
quire. The  use  should  not  be  frequent,  else  it 
loses  its  effect,  or  only  developes  the  spirit  of  a 
slave — of  all  things,  to  be  deprecated.  But 
that  it  is  to  be  the  last  resort,  should  be  the 
rule.  The  father  has  a  heavy  hand,  and  should 
try  every  other  mode  of  correction  first.  There 
is  a  wonderful  virtue  often  in  a  breakfast  on  dry 


OF   THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  10 

})read,  with  cold  water — ^in  the  loss  of  the  priv- 
ilege of  a  walk,  a  ride,  a  visit,  or  company ;  or 
the  sending  to  bed  before  dark  ;  or  deprivation 
of  the  gifts  which  the  other  members  of  a  circle 
enjoy,  etc.  Never,  never ^  however,  should  a 
recreant  child  be  shut  in  the  dark  closet,  or  the 
cellar,  if  a  man  will  not  injure  the  nervous  sys- 
tem of  a  child  for  life  ;  and  never  should  it  be 
punished  by  being  forced  to  commit  portions  of 
the  Bible  to  memory.  If  a  man  wish  his  child 
to  love  that  precious  volume,  its  associations 
should  be  with  all  that  is  pleasant  and  desirable. 
As  to  the  other  side  of  the  account,  a  man 
should  be  most  careful  and  punctilious.  A 
word,  even  a  look  and  smile  of  approbation, 
have  a  special  charm.  lie  who  is  ready  to  re- 
buke a  wrong  act,  should  be  as  ready  to  ex- 
press his  gratification  with  what  is  well  done. 
Indeed,  it  should  be  a  part  of  his  regimen  to 
introduce  to  his  family  every  proper  thing 
which  will  tend  to  make  his  flock  happy  in 
right  doing,  and  raise  in  their  minds,  to  a  high 
point,  the  desire  to  meet  a  father's  wishes.  It 
has  been  urged  by  some  that  it  is  the  business 
of  good  government  to  see  that  a  people  have 
their  holidays,  regarding  the  occurrence  of  these 
as  grand  agencies  in  making  laborious  pursuits 


20  HOME   RESPOKSIBILITIES 

less  burdensome,  and  as  tending  to  better  order 
and  better  bealth.  However  tbis  may  be,  it 
must  be  conceded  tbat  it  is  an  important  part 
of  a  wise  domestic  administration,  for  a  father 
to  break  away,  from  time  to  time,  from  tbe 
yoke  of  business,  and  escort  bis  children  to  such 
recreations  or  exbibitions  as  connect  profit  witb 
pleasure — as  tend  to  elevate  and  expand  the 
mind,  and  improve  the  taste,  while  they  gratify 
the  curiosity.  The  exhibitions  of  the  Crystal 
Palace — of  paintings — of  natural  objects — of 
the  Abbott  Egyptian  Museum,  with  concerts 
and  lectures,  are  abundantly  at  hand,  while  the 
improvements  of  the  city — ^the  large  manufacto- 
ries— ^tlie  public  institutions — ^the  various  views 
around  our  harbor,  give  all  desirable  variety. 

In  a  word,  the  home  government  should  be 
administered  in  tlie  fear  of  God,  The  position 
which  a  father  occupies  is  not  that  of  an  ab- 
solute head,  but  of  a  steward.  There  is  One 
above  him,  to  whom  he  is  accountable ;  and 
from  Him  should  he  seek  his  rule  for  every 
day's  walk,  and  by  it  shape  all  his  acts.  One 
of  the  greatest  auxiliaries  in  his  discharge  of 
duty  will  ever  be  found  to  be,  his  cherishing 
and  strengthening,  in  the  hearts  of  his  children, 
the  conviction  that  he  is  governed,  in  all  his  re- 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  21 

quirements,  by  tlie  fear,  in  his  own  heart,  of 
Him  who  is  above  all  and  over  all. 


THE   HOME   PKOVIDEE. 

If  we  may,  in  any  case,  deduce  the  will  of 
God  from  his  visible  works,  we  may  draw 
man's  duty  to  the  home  circle  from  the  physical 
system  given  him — ^in  comparison  with  which, 
that  of  the  female  is  weak.  His  is  strength  of 
muscle,  power  of  labor  and  of  endurance — ^his, 
all  the  capabilities  for  the  wear  and  tear  and  va- 
rious encounter  of  life  :  and  in  this  we  certainly 
may  see  the  will  of  Him  who  makes  nothing 
for  naught,  that  the  stronger  should  have  the 
charge  of  the  more  frail.  No  special  reasoning 
nor  special  training  is  called  for  here.  Men  fall 
into  it  naturally,  spontaneously ;  and  its  fufill- 
ment  constitutes  one  of  the  sources  of  their 
cheerfulness  and  enjoyment  in  laborious  pursuit. 
In  the  analysis  of  the  influences  which  nervo 
the  brawny  arm — which  carry  forward  in  dis- 
heartening circumstances  —  which  raise  above 
losses,  and  which  renew  the  courage,  how  mucli 
we  shall  be  called  to  set  down  to  the  depend- 
ence of,  and  the  love  for,  the  fireside  circle  ! 
How  much  are  they  in  a  man's  thoughts— how 


22  HOME   EESPONSIBILITIES 

enthroned  in  Ms  affections — ^how  constant  the 
reference  to  their  wishes?,  their  expressed  desires, 
their  recurring  wants  !  This  is  beautiful  and 
right ;  and  beautiful,  especially,  because  it  is  in 
harmony  with  our  relations,  and  the  arrange- 
ments of  Heaven. 

Cases  of  exception  there  are.  Sometimes 
painful  bereavements  devolve  on  woman  the 
double  responsibility  of  provision  and  training. 
When  God  has  been  pleased  to  take  away  the 
father  and  husband,  bravely  has  she  been  seen 
bearing  up  under  exhausting  toil,  most  disin- 
terestedly sacrificing  her  own  comfort  and  health 
for  those  dependent  on  her,  under  God.  The 
careful  observer  is  filled  often  with  amazement 
and  admiration  when  noting  what  is  accom- 
plished by  feeble  woman,  as  we  call  her  in  re- 
ference to  her  slender  form,  though  a  heroine  in 
fact,  and  owns  with  gratitude  the  delightful 
confirmations  of  the  truth  that  God  is  the  father 
of  the  fatherless  and  the  God  of  the  widow. 

There  are  some  who  would  force  woman  out 
of  her  place.  Now  and  then  one  meets  with  a 
poltroon — a  mean  animal,  who  has  not  the 
spirit  of  man,  and  who  thrusts  his  wife  for- 
ward to  bear  unnatural  burdens,  he  being  only 
ready  to   strut  in  broadcloth   her   toils   have 


OF   THE    MAN    OF    BUSESIESS.  28 

earned,  and  feast  on  dainties  for  wliicli  slie  has 
sacrificed  lier  liealtli,  and  play  tlie  cockney  gen- 
tleman, with  his  cigar  in  his  mouth,  lolling  in 
the  fashionable  saloon.  Such  men  are  domestic 
vampires.  Others,  again,  have  with  great  ear- 
nestness argued  that  it  was  woman's  right  to 
compete  with  man  in  all  the  pursuits  and 
honors  of  life ;  though  few,  probably,  have 
yielded  to  the  plea.  The  sentiment  of  Miss 
Hannah  More  will  be  esteemed  as  especially 
true.  She  makes  her  Urania,  the  personification 
of  wisdom,  say : 

*'  Let  woman,  then,  her  real  good  discern, 
And  her  true  interests  of  Urania  learn. 
As  some  fair  violet,  loveliest  of  the  glade. 
Sheds  its  mild  fragrance  on  the  lonely  shade. 
Withdraws  its  modest  head  from  public  sight, 
Nor  courts  the  sun,  nor  seeks  the  glare  of  light, 
Should  some  rude  hand  profanely  dare  intrude, 
And  bear  its  beauties  from  its  native  wood, 
Exposed  abroad,  its  languid  colors  fly. 
Its  form  decays,  and  all  its  odors  die : 
So  woman,  born  to  dignify  retreat. 
Unknown,  to  flourish,  and  unseen,  be  great. 
To  give  domestic  life  its  greatest  charm. 
With  softness  polish,  and  with  virtue  warm, 
Fearful  of  fame,  unwiUing  to  be  known. 
Should  seek  but  Heaven's  applauses  and  her  own. 
Hers  be  the  task  to  seek  the  lonely  cell 
Where  modest  want  and  silent  anguish  dwell ; 
Raise  the  weak  head,  sustain  the  feeble  knees, 
Cheer  the  cold  heart,  and  chase  the  dire  disease. 


24  HOME   EESPONSIBILITIES 

The  splendid  deeds,  which  only  seek  a  name, 
Are  paid  their  just  awards  in  present  fame  ; 
But  know  the  awful,  all-disclosing  day. 
The  long  arrears  of  secret  worth  shall  pay  ; 
Applauding  saints  shall  hear,  with  fond  regard, 
And  He  who  witnessed  here,  shall  there  reward." 

As  Home  provider,  the  man  of  business  will 
give  his  primary  attention  to  wliat  is  necessary. 
He  will  tlien  discuss  how  far  he  shall  go  in  the 
way  of  luxuries  ;  but  by  all  means  should  make 
pecuniary  provision  foi^  Ms  family^  in  anticipa- 
tion either  of  losses  in  husiness  or  his  decease. 

As  to  what  is  deemed  necessary  for  a  family, 
it  is  very  difficult  to  decide.  If  the  question 
referred  only  to  bare  sustenance,  one  might 
readily  come  to  a  conclusion ;  but  it  is  not  so 
limited.  In  our  artificial  social  state,  a  man 
would  be  considered  unpardonable,  if  the  home 
supply  did  not  have  due  regard  to  the  position 
of  the  family  circle,  and  bear  a  fair  comparison 
with  the  usages  of  his  neighbors.  Time  was 
when  it  was  sufficient  for  a  comfortable  liver  to 
have  half  a  house,  or  to  have  one  spare  front- 
room  for  company :  now,  the  same  man  must 
have  a  whole  house,  and  the  first  story  must  be 
thrown  into  parlors.  Not  very  long  since,  one 
servant,  for  general  purposes,  was  all  that  was 
deemed  necessary :  now,  the  requirement  is  ex- 


OF  THE  MAN   OF  BUSINESS.  25 

tended  to  two  certainly,  witli  special  aid  for 
extra  occasions,  and  a  nurse  for  the  little  ones. 
It  is  surprising  to  see  how,  with  the  great  in- 
crease of  facilities  for  domestic  work,  still  the 
demand  is  for  an  increasing  number  of  "  helps." 
It  is  not  many  years  since  the  class  spoken  of 
were  only  occasionally  favored  with  a  piano : 
now,  that  instrument  must  be  set  down  as  a  re- 
quisite to  parlor  equipment.  The  same  is  true 
of  the  dietetic  department,  of  our  social  en- 
tertainments and  modes  of  dressing  —  great 
changes  have  occurred  with  our  so-called  ad- 
vancing civilization.  These,  with  other  things 
in  proportion,  make  it  almost  impossible  to  say 
what  is  embraced  in  the  necessary  provision  for 
home. 

It  is,  perhaps,  true  that  the  question  is  very 
much  affected  by  the  locality  in  which  one 
lives,  or  the  society  he  keeps ;  and  then,  too,  by 
the  person  who  pronounces  in  the  matter,  whe- 
ther a  judicious,  well-balanced,  or  an  ambitious 
housewife,  or  daughters  whose  education  is  of 
the  intellect  and  higher  qualities,  or  of  the  ex- 
tremities of  hands  and  feet. 

It  was  said  that  the  business  man  will  discuss 
how  far  he  shall  go  in  the  way  of  luxuries.  It 
is  conceded  that  there  is  to  be  an  allowance  of 


26  HOME    RESPONSIBILITIES 

outlay  in  many  things,  wMcli  are  not  among  the 
indispensables,  if  a  fair  regard  to  a  man's  pecu- 
niary condition  will  permit  it.  No  man  and  no 
family  are  bound  to  live  on  the  stinted  provision 
of  food  and  raiment,  which  a  straitened  condi- 
tion at  the  outset  of  life  sternly  required.  If 
his  labor  has  been  successful,  he  is  entitled  to 
the  increased  comforts  and  enjoyments  which  he 
has  earned.  He  may  gratify  his  taste,  he  may 
consult  appearances,  he  may  fall  in  with  the 
times,  in  all,  to  a  certain  extent.  What  shall 
be  the  limitation  ?     Several  things  indicate  it. 

I.  Whatever  may  do  prejudice  to,  or  put  in 
jeopardy,  the  pecuniary  interests  of  a  man's 
creditors,  is  beyond  the  outlay  of  propriety. 
The  relation  of  a  man  of  business  to  the  party 
who  gives  him  credit,  or  advances  him  pecu- 
niary means,  or  is  upon  his  notes,  is  of  the  most 
solemn  character.  It  belongs  to  common 
morality,  as  well  as  mercantile  reputation,  that 
a  man  should  not  allow  such  party  to  suffer  in 
the  least  degree,  or  be  placed  in  danger  by  any 
of  his  acts.  Reckless  speculation  not  only  is 
prohibited,  but  a  nice  conscience  would  say,  all 
unnecessary  outlay,  and  every  thing  which  may 
impair  the  ability  honorably  and  fully  to  meet 
all  claims.     In  the  progress  of  business,  much 


OF   THE    MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  27 

is  necessarily  afloat,  and  tlie  results  are  much 
affected  by  contingencies  wMcli  can  not  be  fore- 
seen. Hence,  it  is  a  difficult  point  to  decide 
wliat  a  man  can  withdraw  and  put  by  in  a 
form  wHcIl  will  yield  nothing  in  the  great  mat- 
ter of  pecuniary  obligation.  The  dictate  of 
wisdom  is,  to  be  sure  to  be  on  the  safe  side, 
which  is  the  side  of  honor  and  integrity.  The 
neglect  of  this  has  done  much  to  bring  reproach 
on  business  men,  and  to  make  mercantile 
morality  a  burlesque.  There  is  often  cruelty, 
as  well  as  disingenuousness,  in  the  manner  in 
which  men  waste  in  luxurious  expenditures 
what  belongs  to  other  men's  wives  and  children, 
and  by  their  consequent  insolvency  bring  loss, 
and  often  misery,  on  those  whom  every  dictate 
of  humanity  and  common  honesty  should  bind 
them  to  sustain,  by  securing  to  them  their  dues. 
Men  might  almost  as  well  rob  on  the  highway, 
or  break  open  one's  counting-room  safe,  as  de- 
fraud such  by  a  great  crash,  brought  on  by  ex- 
travagance and  folly.  In  this  day  of  costly 
edifices  and  rich  furniture,  and  a  style  of  living 
to  correspond,  it  takes  no  insignificant  amount 
to  make  up  the  proper  style  of  a  merchant 
prince  ;  and  if  the  man  has  not  reached  a  point 
beyond  uncertainty,  he  may  leave  other  people 


28  HOME    RESPONSIBILITIES 

to  pay  for  his  ambitious  notions.  It  requires 
but  a  moment's  reflection  to  satisfy  an  ingenu- 
ous mind  tliat  the  first  step  towards  such  an 
issue  should  be  most  cautiously  watched  and 
avoided  ;  and  if  any  family  tendencies  lead  ad- 
versely to  such  course,  it  will  only  be  necessary 
to  show  how  much  is  involved,  in  order  to  quiet 
a  rising  desire  for  increase  of  style.  Wives  and 
children  have  hearts,  and  they  will  respond  to 
the  well-put  claim  of  other  men's  wives  and 
children,  who  stand  in  the  relation  of  creditors. 
Perhaps  the  want  of  frankness  here,  not  unfre- 
quently  leads  to  the  persevering  solicitations 
which  at  length  overcome  a  prudent  man's 
decisions. 

II.  "Whatever  may  abstract  injuriously  from 
a  man's  necessary  business  operations,  is  beyond 
the  proper  outlay.  What  has  been  said  relates 
to  others  ;  now,  the  reference  is  to  the  man  him- 
self. Capital,  and  skill  to  use  it,  are  among  the 
important  elements  of  success;  and  no  man 
should  abstract  from  the  former,  relying  on  his 
wits  to  work  out  of  any  difficulties  which  may 
arise.  The  ready  control  of  capital  puts  within 
a  man's  reach  the  means  of  availing  himself  of 
favorable  circumstances  which  offer,  as  well  as 
of  being  prepared  for  the  business  fluctuations 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  29 

whicli  occur.  If  a  man  of  a  compact,  snug  con- 
dition, has  embarked,  for  instance,  in  a  property 
improvement,  and  locks  up  tlius  what  may  con- 
stitute a  material  portion  of  his  capital,  calcu- 
lating on  the  continuance  of  a  thrifty  business, 
he  exposes  himself  to  whatever  vicissitudes  may 
take  place.  The  first  billow  of  adverse  charac- 
ter is  very  likely  to  overwhelm  him,  or  certainly 
the  second  shock  will.  The  cases  are  not  few 
in  which,  in  some  such  way,  men  doing  a  neat 
and  an  increasing  business,  make  inroads  on 
what  is  needed  to  maintain  their  favorable  posi- 
tion, and  in  a  little  time  make  wreck  of  every 
thing.  One  can  visit  scarcely  any  of  our  thriv- 
ing towns  or  cities,  without  having  his  attention 
called  to  fine  edifices  which  have  passed  into 
second  hands,  they  who  began  to  build  having 
gone  into  dependent  retiracy,  through  such  an 
unwise  course. 

III.  A  man's  outlay  for  luxuries  is  beyond 
the  rule  of  propriety  when  its  direct  tendency 
is  to  injure  his  children.  He  must  not  merely 
study  what  will  please  and  gratify,  but  what 
will  benefit — what  will  cherish  aU  those  traits 
of  character  which  shall  fit  them  for  the  future. 
Now  it  is  not  to  be  concealed  that  the  outlay 
of  many  parents  in  their  style  of  living,  house 


30  HOJVfE   RESPONSIBILITIES 

adornments,  and  tlie  various  paraphernalia  and 
trappings,  and  indulgencies,  is  most  deleterious 
to  their  children.  A  false  taste  is  cherished,  and 
what  is  merely  incidental  comes  to  be  regarded 
as  essential.  A  false  standard  of  personal  valu- 
ation is  set  up  in  the  mind,  and  real,  available 
solid  worth  is  made  secondary  to  tinsel  and 
mere  gew-gaw.  The  whole  view  taken  of  life 
will  be  false,  as  its  great  purpose  will  be  that  of 
the  old  Epicureans,  "  Let  us  live  while  we  live." 
All  personal  energy,  all  self-helpfulness,  will  be 
sacrificed  to  a  sickly  effeminacy  which  must  ever 
be  waited  on.  The  parent  must  die  :  he  may 
die  before  his  children ;  and  how  does  he  leave 
them — ^with  what  controlling  feelings,  and  de- 
sires, and  aims  ?  And  with  what  preparation  to 
encounter  the  stern  realities  which  must  come 
upon  them?  As  the  inheritance  divided,  will 
not  give  each  what  the  father  used,  and  they 
can  not  "  begin  life  where  the  father  left  off," 
how  miserable  must  be  their  condition !  Happy 
is  that  man  who  makes  his  expenditure  such  as 
to  secure  present  gratification,  without  ener- 
vating the  character ;  whose  liberal  use  of  the 
avails  of  a  successful  business  shall  raise  the  tone 
of  the  mind,  enlarge  the  views,  and  cherish  aspi- 
rations after  something:  better  than  mere  show. 


OF   THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  &1 

IV»  "WTien  an  outlay  for  luxuries  is  such  as 
to  prejudice  tlie  benefactions  to  important  pub- 
lic and  social  interests,  it  is  beyond  tlie  rule  of 
propriety.  Bound  together  as  society  is,  and 
constituting,  in  one  form  or  another,  a  combina- 
tion of  mutual  dependencies,  it  is  the  law  of 
our  condition  that  we  should  contribute  to  the 
welfare  of  the  whole.  Now  it  may  be  in  the 
way  of  taxation,  on  the  principle  that  the  bene- 
fited should  bear  their  share  of  the  burdens 
of  society,  and  then  it  may  be  in  the  way  of 
pecuniary  donation  to  the  necessitous,  and 
wretched,  and  outcast,  as  they  are  parts  of  the 
brotherhood,  and  aid  to  them  is  a  part  of  the 
curative  process  which  social  weal  demands. 
Apart  from  the  views  of  the  duty  of  benevolence 
presented  in  the  "Word  of  God,  it  is  clear  that  a 
man  is  doing  himself  a  service  in  just  so  far  as 
he  is  the  patron  of  all  the  institutions  which  re- 
lieve want,  instruct  the  ignorant,  take  care  of 
the  young,  reclaim  the  erring,  reform  evils,  cul- 
tivate and  diffuse  sound  learning  and  piety 
through  all  grades  of  social  life.  The  more  in- 
telligence is  diffused,  and  principle  is  inculcated, 
and  industry  is  cherished,  and  the  means  of  self- 
support  are  placed  in  the  way  of  men,  the  more 
the  young  are  trained,  are  separated  from  bane- 


32  HOME   EESPONSIBILITIES 

ful  example,  are  Ibrouglit  under  healthful  in- 
fluences— ^the  more  society  is  raised  and  the 
more  certainly  are  peace,  good  order,  public 
security,  and  by  consequence  private  benefit,  ad- 
vanced. These  influences  or  modes  of  opera- 
tion to  rectify  social  evils  or  cut  off  their 
sources,  may  be  called,  collectively,  the  moral 
police  of  society,  and  they  are  efficient  for  good 
just  in  the  degree  in  which  they  are  faithfully 
and  perseveringly  pursued.  They  have  done 
good.  They  have  repaid  the  benevolent  many 
fold,  and  the  reason  of  their  not  yielding  greatei* 
and  wider  results,  is  found  in  the  fact  of  a  lim- 
ited use. 

Keference  has  been  made  to  the  Word  of  God. 
Here  the  course  of  duty  is  made  plain  and  very 
imperative :  "  Do  good  unto  all  men  as  ye  have 
opportunity,"  "omit  no  opportunity  of  doing 
good,"  "  be  merciful,"  "  feed  the  hungry,  clothe 
the  naked,"  "freely  ye  have  received,  freely 
give,"  are  among  the  divine  injunctions.  Then, 
the  most  glorious  and  moving  of  all  examples, 
that  of  our  blessed  Lord,  is  employed  to  lead 
in  the  way  of  an  enlarged  benevolence.  What 
thrilling,  heart-moving  words  are  those  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  "  for  ye  know  the  grace  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  though  he  was  rich  yet 


OF   THE   MAN   OF   BUSIIiTESS.  33 

for  your  sakes  he  became  poor,  that  ye  through 
his  poverty  might  be  rich." 

It  is  necessary,  then,  if  a  man  would  make 
out  a  fair  claim  to  a  sound  humanity,  to  a 
Christ-like  Christianity,  indeed,  to  a  sound  so- 
cial philosophy,  to  hold  himself  bound  to  act  a 
liberal  part  in  public,  social,  religious,  educa- 
tional, and  industrial  benefaction.  He  should 
charge  himself  with  it  just  as  decidedly,  and 
make  it  a  part  of  his  plan  of  life,  as  he  does  the 
payment  for  any  other  beneficially  reactive 
matter.  The  true  reasoning,  accordingly,  is,  that 
positive  claims  must  take  precedence  of  mere 
luxuries,  and  as  these  are  such,  no  business  man 
ought  to  allow  his  expenditure  for  luxuries  to 
impair,  certainly  not  to  prevent,  his  contributions 
to  the  public  good,  any  more  than  he  would  to 
prevent  the  payment  of  his  taxes.  The  plea  of 
inability  is  often  heard,  even  when  the  case  ask- 
ing aid  is  most  important,  when  that  inability 
proceeds  from  a  violation  of  this  rule — so  much 
has  been  vainly  and  unwisely  lavished  in  luxu- 
rious expenditure,  that  selfishness  and  vanity 
are  pampered  at  the  expense  of  the  primary 
claims  of  benevolence  and  piety. 

Again  :  An  outlay  for  luxuries  which  prevents 
proper  investment  for  the  future,  is  beyond  the 


34  HOME   EESPONSIBILITIES 

rule  of  wisdom  and  duty.  It  is  a  common  maxim 
tliat  a  man  should  live  within  his  income,  and 
thus  have  something  to  lay  by,  for  the  sear  of 
life.  So  much  uncertainty  hangs  over  our  con- 
dition here,  so  many  events  which  to  us  seem 
contingencies  dash  human  hopes,  and  then  we 
are  so  liable  to  various  disabilities,  that  we  may 
well  look  to  the  future  and  learn  a  lesson  from 
the  diminutive  creatures  that  always  prepare  for 
stern  winter.  It  argues  no  want  of  trust  in 
God  to  do  so  any  more  than  any  form  of  prepa- 
ration for  a  future  event  does.  The  evil  is  in 
undue  solicitude,  and  accumulating  burdens  of 
care — ^not  in  any  fair  exercise  of  the  foresight 
of  prudence.  If  a  man  is  not  governed  by 
such  a  policy,  it  is  apparent  how  easily  in  pro- 
vidence he  may  be  made  to  feel  and  bitterly  re- 
gret the  folly  of  wasting  on  sheer  frivolities  what 
might  have  made  old  age,  or  a  state  of  continued 
bodily  infirmity,  comfortable.  They  who  have 
recklessly  gone  on,  will,  in  the  day  of  necessity, 
find  every  vestige  or  remnant  of  gaudy  display 
not  only  a  memento  but  a  sharp  reprover  of 
their  improvidence.  The  mode  in  which  a  pru- 
dential investment  for  the  winter  of  life  may  be 
made,  is  well  understood. 

It  was  said  that  as  the  Home  pro\dder,  the 


OF   THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  85 

man  of  business  should,  by  all  means,  make 
provision  for  Ms  family  in  the  day  of  his  pros- 
perity, in  anticipation  either  of  losses  in  husi- 
7iess  or  his  decease.  This  is  taking  new  ground, 
but  it  is  believed  to  be  fair  and  only  just  to  the 
parties  to  be  benefited,  and  not  in  any  way  in- 
jurious to  any.  Let  the  matter  be  looked  at 
with  care.  It  will  be  conceded  that  it  is  both 
desirable  and  important  that  a  man  should 
guard  those  who  are  dependent  on  him  from 
adverse  circumstances  so  far  as  he  can  honora- 
bly, and  at  the  earliest  moment.  The  actual 
history  of  the  mercantile  community,  shows 
many  painful  records  of  unexpected  depressions 
and  disappointed  hopes.  How  often  has  the 
sun  risen  in  splendor,  but  as  day  has  advanced, 
dark  clouds  have  obscured  the  sky,  the  tempest 
has  followed  in  its  fury,  and  shipwreck  and  ruin 
have  closed  the  scene.  The  fluctuations  of  bu- 
siness life  are  proverbial,  until  it  has  become  a 
notable  fact  that  so  few  who  have  carried  on  a 
large  and  apparently  prosperous  business,  have 
left  any  thing  comparatively,  on  their  decease, 
as  the  avails  of  a  life-long  labor.  Serious  mis- 
takes may  have  been  committed  ;  even  the  pru- 
dent may  have  been  induced  to  embark  on  the 
sea  of  speculation;    a   dishonest  partner   may 


36  HOME   EESPONSIBILITIES 

have  involved  a  man  in  heavy  losses  ;  the  gains 
of  years  may  have  been  swept  away  hy  the  too 
great  confidence  in  some  one  of  even  established 
character  ;  a  man  may  have  been  drawn  down, 
without  any  fault  of  his,  by  the  fall  of  his 
neighbor,  as  the  smaller  trees,  able  to  stand  if 
left  to  themselves,  are  crushed  by  the  crash  of 
the  larger  under  whose  branches  they  have 
grown ;  he  may  have  become  too  old  to  vary 
his  modes  of  business  as  the  times  require,  for 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  '''' fogyism)''  in  business, 
which,  because  it  can  not  trim  to  the  changing 
winds,  is  left  behind,  and  custom  seeks  new 
channels ;  indeed,  it  would  be  tedious  to  describe 
the  modes  in  which  fair  hopes,  yes,  the  fairest 
hopes,  may,  in  the  progress  of  years,  be  frus- 
trated. And  in  this  uncertain  course,  expenses 
have  been  increasing ;  the  family  is  larger — is 
older ;  bills  are  necessarily  greater ;  new  rela- 
tions are  to  receive  attention,  and  the  man  him- 
self is  approximating  the  period  when  his  ener- 
gy is  less,  his  hopefulness  less,  and  he  needs  re- 
pose, but  with  the  harness  on  is  wearing  out 
rapidly.  Then  how  quickly  is  the  product  of 
more  vigorous  years  consumed,  and  especially 
if  through  a  protracted  decline  in  which  he  is 
incapacitated  for  labor,  according  to  the  familiar 


OF  THE  MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  37 

remark,  "all  goes  out  and  nothing  comes  in." 
It  is  painful  to  contemplate  tlie  condition  of 
those  who  are  left,  who  from  having  high  hopes 
and  having  been  habituated  to  every  comfort, 
and  probably  luxury,  are  thrust  by  stern  neces- 
sity into  the  struggle  with  depressed,  perhaps 
dependent  circumstances.  What  melancholy 
hours  are  the  portion  of  many  such ;  how  is  the 
small  pittance  which  may  have  been  saved,  eked 
out ;  what  sighs  are  heard  after  many  things 
which  in  the  day  of  prosperity  were  thrown 
away ;  what  melting  tales  are  heard  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  one  article  after  another,  remnants 
of  former  days,  are  sold  at  a  sacrifice  to  furnish 
the  requisites  of  life.  It  is  often  said  that  truth 
is  stranger  than  fiction — ^if  anywhere,  it  is  often 
here.  Looking  forward  on  life,  the  possibility 
of  such  a  lot  for  those  nearest  and  dearest  to 
him,  should  move  a  business  man  to  do  what 
he  can  to  anticipate  it.  The  question  is,  sup- 
posing he  desires  it,  how  shall  it  be  accomplish- 
ed ?  Only  in  perfect  integrity  to  all  to  whom 
he  is  indebted.  A  man  must  be  just ;  every 
claim  must  be  provided  for,  otherwise  his  ar- 
rangement would  be  a  fraud.  It  is  very  rare 
that  a  business  man,  devoted  to  his  proper  pur- 
Huits,  does  not  reach  a  point  when  he  has  some- 


P)8  HOME   RESPONSIBILITIES 

thing,  more  or  less,  over  and  above  all  claims ; 
that  after  a  liberal  calculation  of  all  precarious 
circumstances,  at  that  given  point  of  time  he 
might  lay  aside  something  with  the  approbation 
of  all  parties.  The  law  defines  when  he  may 
make  a  settlement  on  his  wife  and  on  his  child- 
ren. Let  him  avail  himself  of  it.  Then  some 
have  said  the  end  is  answered  by  an  insurance 
on  his  life ;  this  is  well,  and  should  be  much 
more  resorted  to ;  but  it  is  exceptionable  in  this 
point  of  view,  the  annual  payment  may  become 
inconvenient — winsome  instances  impossible — and 
thus  the  whole  be  put  in  jeopardy.  So  a  gross 
amount  may  be  paid  to  secure  an  annuity  ;  but 
to  make  this  sufficiently  valuable,  too  large  a 
sum  must  at  once  be  taken  out  of  one's  business. 
The  most  feasible  mode  is  to  make  an  invest- 
ment in  some  approved  form,  selected  with  judg- 
ment, for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  named  persons, 
and  give  it  all  the  accretions  of  annual  interest 
and  dividends  or  other  increase.  This  would 
be  effectual,  and  meet  almost  all  contingencies. 
And  it  is  not  an  unnatural  stretch  of  imagina- 
tion to  picture  the  time  when  the  man  who 
could  do  this  in  the  day  of  his  prosperity,  may 
be  made  comfortable  by  it  in  the  day  of  his  ad- 
versity— those  dearest  to  him,  whom  he  has 


OF   THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  ot) 

placed  beyond  the  reacli  of  his  own  depressions, 
being  the  disbursers.  By  such  a  process  how 
many  who  have  gone  to  the  grave  in  sorrow, 
would  have  been  saved  from  the  mortification 
which  has  broken  their  hearts. 

If  a  man  has  married  a  wife  with  a  property 
at  her  command,  or  who  has  inherited  it  subse- 
quently, the  mode  of  accomplishing  his  provi- 
sion, so  far  as  she  is  concerned,  is  easy.  If  they 
live  where  the  law  does  not  make  it  hers  abso- 
lutely, or,  in  other  words,  if  under  the  system 
where  all  hers,  with  her  person,  becomes  his, 
common  honor  demands  that  he  should  release 
it  to  her,  and  sign  off  all  right  which  circum- 
stances may  have  given  him.  That  property 
he  has  not  earned,  nor  has  it  been  donated  to 
him :  only  incidentally  has  he  a  control  of  it. 
The  usage  opposed  to  the  course  now  suggested 
is  barbarous,  and  has  done  more  to  provoke  the 
cupidity  of  fortune-hunters  than  it  has  done 
good  to  the  right-minded.  Had  this  been  the 
established  mode  always,  untold  miseries  would 
have  been  prevented.  In  numerous  cases  such 
a  mode  of  procedure  would  secure  all  that  is 
required,  and  the  question  of  provision  be  easily 
settled.  But  if  there  be  no  such  opportunity, 
the  voice  of  painful  experience  calls  most  ear- 


40  HOME   EESP0N8IBILITIES 

nestly  on  every  man  to  do  for  Ms  family  in  his 
prosperity  what  a  due  regard  for  all  Ms  liabili- 
ties shall  allow  him  to  do  honorably,  in  anticipa- 
tion of  losses  or  of  his  decease. 

THE   HOME   EDUCATOE. 

This  view  of  the  man  of  business,  in  its  wide 
range  of  duties,  is  second  to  none  other — bear- 
ing most  directly  on  his  own  comfort  and  that 
of  those  under  his  care,  and  most  emphatically 
on  the  well-being  of  society.  It  is  due,  accord- 
ingly, to  himself,  to  the  home  circle,  to  society, 
to  give  special  attention  to  all  that  is  involved 
in  it.  Besides,  there  is  every  thing  to  encour- 
age his  effort,  for  our  nature  is  the  most  educa- 
tible.  The  results  of  faithfulness  here  are  early 
seen,  and  they  abide,  and  in  turn  become  the 
seeds  of  similar  fruits  in  succeeding  relations, 
and  thus,  if  good,  go  on  blessing  society  inter- 
minably— ^for  right  influences  never  die.  The 
relation  of  Home  educator  can  never  be 
thrown  off,  while  a  man  has  imitating  beings 
around  him,  or  those  in  any  way  to  be  influenced 
by  him.  Indeed,  he  is  always  educating  others, 
whether  conscious  of  it  or  not,  and  thus,  as  his 
influence  tends,  is  either  a  means  of  good  or  of 
evil. 


OF   THE   M^VN   OF   BUSINESS.  41 

Education  is  too  frequently  taken  in  tlie  lim- 
ited, scholastic  sense,  but  this  excludes  some  of 
its  most  important  aspects  and  agencies.  Pro- 
perly speaking,  every  thing  which  draws  out  the 
constituent  elements  of  our  nature — developes, 
strengthens,  and  trains  them — ^is  educational. 
The  man  of  business  may  say  he  is  not  a  school- 
master ;  but  he  is  nevertheless  playing  the  pai-t 
of  one  whenever  within  the  family  group,  and 
he  can  not  prevent  it.  The  moment  he  crosses 
the  home  threshold,  his  step,  his  voice,  his  glee 
or  his  sourness,  his  smile  or  his  frown,  his  warm 
and  affectionate  greeting  of  each  little  one  or 
his  coldness  of  manner  and  distance,  his  tender 
interest  in  all  troubles  which  may  have  occurred 
or  his  indifference  to  all,  are  so  many  lessons  to 
every  member  of  the  group  looking  up  to  him. 
All  hearts  are  drawn  to  him — ^for  is  he  not  the 
father  ?  In  the  recognition  of  that  relation  and 
the  feelings  drawn  out  by  it,  how  natural  the 
conclusion  of  the  young  mind,  what  my  father 
does  is  right,  and  I  will  do  like  him.  Does  he 
fly  into  a  passion ;  does  he  pronounce  hasty  judg- 
ments; are  his,  wholesale  condemnations;  are  his, 
injudicious  freedoms  with  the  characters  of  oth- 
ers ;  is  he  negligent  of  duty ;  are  his,  unseemly  in- 
dulgences— it  is  most  probable  that  his  boy  will 


42  HOME    RESPONSIBILITIES 

do  the  same.  Does  father  smoke,  and  chew, 
and  drink  a  little,  Jolm  will  reason,  "  my  father 
does  it,  and  I  may  do  it;  it  never  hurt  my 
father,  it  will  not  hurt  me."  And  so  it  is  through 
all  the  detail  of  life.  A  growing  family  will 
not  fail  to  be  docile  learners  of  those  to  whom 
their  nature  teaches  them  to  look  up.  Very 
few  realize  how  constant  and  how  decided  the 
impressions  made  on  the  minds  of  children,  and 
how  conduct,  conversation,  temper,  looks,  and 
omissions  are  treasured  up,  and  mould,  and  train, 
and  educate  the  group,  which  thinks  it  merito- 
rious to  be  the  counterpart  of  father.  Let  a 
man  watch  narrowly,  and  he  will  find  more 
than  he  is  aware  the  likeness,  nearly  the  fac 
simile,  of  himself,  in  more  respects  than  physical 
features  or  characteristics.  "What  a  guard  should 
a  man  have  over  himself;  what  care  should  be 
exercised  that  his  children  should  see  and  hear 
nothing  which  he  would  not  wish  repeated;  and 
beyond  this,  how  desirable  that  he  should  so 
train  himself  that  the  doing  and  being  what  he 
would  have  them  to  be  and  to  do,  should  be  a 
second  nature. 

A  man  himself  educates,  and  he  educates  by 
others.  This  is  true  of  all  the  associations  to 
which   he  introduces   his  children — of  all  the 


OF   THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  43 

details  of  social  intercourse  wMch.  lie  deems  it 
important  to  observe,  and  of  tlie  location  of 
home.  The  whole  management  of  home  is 
educational.  Can  it  be  a  wonder,  then,  that  so- 
ciety is  not  more  pure,  more  elevated,  more  vir- 
tuous ?  The  solution  of  very  much  that  is  to 
l^e  deplored  in  social  life  is  simply  this :  the  home 
training  was  sadly  defective  and  negative,  or 
positively  evil. 

In  reference  to  the  education  in  the  stricter 
sense  which  a  man  gives  his  children,  it  is  to  be 
remarked  in  general,  that  it  is  often  the  best 
portion  he  can  bestow  on  them.  That  man 
spoke  wisely  who  said,  he  would  make  sure  to 
give  them  this  inheritance,  whether  he  could 
leave  them  any  other  or  not.  Money  laid  out 
in  a  careful  education  is  an  admirable  invest- 
ment, and  should  be  most  cheerfully  made,  and 
is  bestowed  on  the  parent's  most  important  aux- 
iliary. Some  men  speak  disparagingly  of  edu- 
cation and  of  the  men  who  devote  themselves 
to  it,  from  sheer  meanness  and  avarice.  "  I  have 
succeeded  in  making  money  without  it,"  says  a 
swelling  ignoramus,  who  can  not  spell  correctly 
the  bills  he  sends  to  his  customers,  "  and  my 
children  can  do  as  I  have  done.  Your  teachers 
are  mere  drones."    What  is  the  truth,  as  verified 


44  HOJUE   EESPONSIBILITIES 

by  constant  observation  ?  The  office  of  a  teacher 
is  one  of  the  most  important  in  social  life,  and 
he  who  is  really  a  good  teacher  is  the  common 
benefactor,  and  deserves  all  honor  and  favor. 
The  pecuniary  compensation  paid  him  is  at  best 
a  meagre  return  for  the  toil  and  anxiety  which 
are  the  price  of  his  success.  He  who  treats  his 
claim  as  a  charity,  who  defrauds  him  of  his  due, 
who  thrusts  him  aside  as  a  menial,  ought  to 
know  that  he  is  ignoring  his  best  friend,  and 
treating  unworthily  the  hand  which,  out  of  the 
crude  mass,  is  to  form  the  ornaments  of  his 
house. 

Several  questions  require  an  answer  to  him 
who  seeks  to  do  his  duty  here. 

I.  What  shall  the  education  given  his  child- 
ren embrace  ? 

II.  Through  and  by  whom  shall  it  be  given  ? 

III.  Where  shall  it  be  given  ? 

IV.  When  shall  it  begin,  and  how  long  shall 
it  continue  ? 

I.  What  shall  the  education  embrace  ?  There 
is  much  of  an  elementary  kind  which  is  indis- 
pensable, which  in  all  cases  is  the  same.  The 
clear  common  sense  of  the  community  decides 
about  this,  without  any  pretense  to  philosophy. 


OF   THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  45 

and  it  pronounces  tlie  tliorougliness  of  tliese 
the  basis  of  all  subsequent  progress.  ISTo  parent 
should  allow  bimself  to  be  led  away  by  tinsel 
and  ornament  while  any  deficiency  exists  here. 
Proceeding  from  this  onward,  there  can  be  no 
just  limit,  for  in  the  training  of  our  nature  God 
has  nowhere  said,  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no 
farther.  If  a  man's  means  enable,  he  should 
give  all  the  child  will  take,  with  special  condi- 
tions— ^namely,  all  should  be  useful ;  every  thing 
should  be  in  due  order  and  proportion ;  nothing 
should  be  forced,  either  taking  into  account  the 
nature  of  a  study  or  the  quantity  of  work  re- 
quired ;  the  variety  should  not  be  such  as  to  dis- 
tract the  mind ;  all  should  be  made  as  attractive- 
as  possible ;  all  should  be  in  harmony ;  and  the 
mode  pursued  should  be  adapted  to  cultivate 
all  the  faculties — ^the  memory  as  well  as  the 
judgment,  the  imagination  and  the  taste  as  well 
as  the  understanding,  the  affections  as  well  as 
the  mind — and  not  any  one  at  the  expense  of 
the  others.  And  especially  should  the  physical 
system  be  attended  to.  What  is  all  intellectual 
and  sesthetical  education  worth,  if  the  body  be 
enfeebled  and  sickly  ?  A  parent  should  see  to 
it,  that  good,  wholesome  air  circulates  in  the 
place  of  instruction,  and  that  scholastic  duty  is 


46  HOllilE   RESPONSIBILITIES 

relieved  by  invigorating  exercises.  In  tlie  case 
of  boys,  there  is  in  their  exuberant  feeling  and 
love  of  fun  mucli  to  induce  free  exercise  and 
muscular  development,  tliougL.  even  with,  them 
a  regular  system  of  gymnastics  is  always  valua- 
ble. But  with  the  girls  it  is  different.  The 
usages  of  society  keep  them  within  such  limits 
that  physical  growth  and  expansion  take  place 
rather  in  defiance  than  by  the  aid  of  social 
arrangements.  It  is  very  much  to  be  regretted 
that  every  educational  system  for  females  has 
not,  integral  to  its  daily  operations,  a  place  for 
the  graceful  and  invigorating  calisthenics  which 
are  so  well  known  and  prized  at  the  Mount  Holy- 
oke  Institution. 

When  speaking  of  the  range  of  education,  a 
question  has  been  asked,  whether  a  parent 
should  be  governed  by  the  present  direct  bene- 
fit of  a  given  study  ?  The  answer  is,  he  can 
not  be  so  governed,  for  in  the  whole  course  of 
our  well-arranged  institutions,  there  is  nothing 
which  does  not  minister  to  desirable  mental 
training,  and  is  accordingly  important,  though 
how  the  benefit  resulting  may  be  applied  in 
a  particular  case  may  not  be  at  once  apparent. 
The  work  is  for  the  future.  And  then,  as  no 
one  can  anticipate  Providence,  a  man  may  find 


OF   THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  4? 

that  what  lie  pronounced  against  as  being  value- 
less would  have  been  the  greatest  blessing  to 
his  child.  What  shall  be  done  with  a  study, 
say  some,  for  which  a  child  has  no  natural 
adaptation  ?  A  fair  and  full  experiment  should 
be  made  to  settle  the  fact  that  this  is  so  ;  some- 
times what  may  be  called  want  of  adaptation 
may  prove  mere  inattention,  willful  neglect, 
opposition,  or  the  effect  of  bad  associations ;  or 
all  difficulty  may  be  set  down  to  the  manner  in 
which  a  child  is  treated,  or  the  mode  in  which 
a  subject  is  taught.  It  may  be  the  fault  of  the 
teacher  as  decidedly  as  it  may  be  that  of  the 
pupil,  that  no  fondness  for  a  study  is  cherished, 
and  no  proficiency  is  acquired.  There  is  great 
force  in  the  little  narrative  which  prefaces  Col- 
burn's  Fii^st  Lessons  of  Intellectual  Arithmetic, 
But  when  the  point  of  want  of  adaptation  is 
satisfactorily  settled,  the  answer  is  to  be  decid- 
edly this :  an  eclectic  course  must  be  pursued, 
or  certain  studies  must  be  less  pressed,  if  not 
omitted.  Ordinarily  the  entire  curriculum  of  a 
well-arranged  educational  course  may  be  taken, 
(not  perhaps  with  the  same  success  in  every 
branch,  but  with  fair  proficiency  in  all  and  spe- 
cial in  some,)  but  in  many  cases  it  is  wise  and 
encouraging  to  allow  a  choice,  under  the  advise- 


48  HOME   RESPONSIBILITIES 

ment  of  a  judicious  friend.  It  is  a  great  waste 
of  means  and  time  to  force  upon  a  scholar  wliat 
lie  or  slie  can  not  acquire.  Thousands  of  dol- 
lars are  thrown  away  on  musical  education, 
when  there  was  no  natural  fitness  for  it,  and 
upon  various  branches  of  study,  under  similar 
disability.  It  must  be  allowed  that  all  men  can 
not  be  linguists  or  mathematicians  or  rhetori- 
cians or  naturalists  or  all  together ;  with  a  general 
conception  of  each  department,  they  slide  into 
that  for  which  their  preferences  have  been  grow- 
ing stronger  and  stronger  in  a  preparatory  career. 

II.  Through  and  by  whom  shall  it  be  given  ? 
It  is  true  in  education,  as  in  other  matters,  that 
the  lowest  priced  is  not  the  cheapest ;  while  it  is 
not  true,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  most  costly 
is  either  the  dearest  or  best.  Some  things  are 
dear  at  any  price.  So  it  is  among  teachers  ;  and 
a  man  may  better  pay  to  have  them  retire.  Yet 
there  are  persons  who  are  ever  seeking  low- 
priced  tuition,  and  such  must  not  be  disappoint- 
ed if  they  find  it,  according  to  the  price,  very 
poor.  Among  teachers  are  persons  also  who 
can  puff  loudly  and  put  their  wares  very  high, 
apparently  on  the  principle  that  there  are  pa- 
rents who  have  more  money  than  brains,  and  who 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  49 

love,  wlien  they  are  "  gulled,"  to  have  it  done 
handsomely.  The  man  who  respects  himself 
will  avoid  both  extremes,  and  will  ask  a  com- 
pensation according  to  the  work  done.  So  the 
parent  should  select,  as  the  agent  to  whom  he 
commits  his  child,  the  man  of  integrity,  who  is 
just  to  himself  and  to  his  patron. 

A  large  convention  of  practical  men,  a  few 
years  since,  gave  it  as  their  opinion  that  lady 
teachers  were  preferable  for  boys  up  to  nine  or 
ten  years  old,  and  even  older.  The  grounds  on 
which  such  a  policy  would  be  based,  would  be 
these :  that  that  period  is  one  which  calls  for 
sympathy,  for  tenderness;  that  it  is  one  in 
which  the  heart  must  be  especially  cultivated  ; 
and,  particularly,  because  the  influence  of  a 
cultivated  lady  teacher  would  keep  down  the 
asperities  and  rudenesses  which  under  other 
treatment  would  not  be  noticed.  A  proper  di- 
rection, given  under  such  influences,  is  likely  to 
be  felt  through  life.  And  no  scholarship  is 
sacrificed  under  it ;  for  well-taught  females,  as 
gifted  as  any  of  the  other  sex,  may  be  obtained. 

No  man  should  intrust  his  children  to  a 
person  deficient  in  principle,  or  given  to  a  single 
bad  habit.  The  drinker,  the  profane,  the  libi- 
dinous, the  vulgar,  the  frivolous,  the  gambler. 


50  HOME   RESPONSIBILITIES 

the  dishonest,  tlie  irreligious,  should  in  no  case 
be  intrusted  with  the  charge  of  the  hopes  of  a 
family.  "What  can  a  parent  expect  from  such  ? 
And  even  if  the  book  instruction  be  sound, 
what  will  be  the  effect  of  the  example?  and 
what  estimate  of  character  will  be  implied  on 
the  part  of  the  parent,  in  their  employment  ? 

As  children  and  youth  are  passing  through 
the  most  in-firm  period  of  life,  and  when  the 
judgment  is  imperfectly  developed,  they  should 
only  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  teachers  of  de- 
cided lieart^  and  great  patience.  The  place  of 
youthful  training  is  not  the  one  for  the  petu- 
lant, peevish,  passionate,  the  frivolous  or  stoical 
temperament.  There  will,  of  course,  be  much 
to  try  one,  and  sometimes  very  aggravated 
cases  may  call  for  treatment ;  yet  these  will 
not  justify  the  ebullitions  of  passion  against 
which  frequent  complaints  are  made.  If 
there  be  any  position  in  which  a  man  should 
cultivate  control  over  his  own  spirit,  it  is  that 
of  the  teacher.  He  who  has  it  not,  loses  the 
respect  of  those  under  his  care,  and  they  will 
despise  him,  or  fear  him  as  a  tyrant ;  and  the 
advantages  derived  from  any  eminence  of  talents 
he  may  possess  will  be  more  than  compensated 
by  the  unhappy  exhibition  of  his  passions. 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  51 

Aptness  to  teach,  should  be  sought  as  an  in- 
dispensable quality.  It  is  not  mere  learning 
which  constitutes  a  proper  trainer  of  tlie  young 
mind.  A  man  may  have  vast  stores  laid  up  in 
the  intellectual  repository,  and  if  he  has  not  the 
faculty  of  communicating,  he  is  comparatively 
useless.  A  parent  who  seeks  the  best  interests 
of  his  children  should  aim  to  secure  those  who, 
though  they  may  have  less  shining  attainments, 
provided  adequate,  understand  how  to  interest 
youth,  and  impart,  in  an  intelligible  manner, 
what  they  have  acquired. 

To  a  certain  extent,  the  teacher  is  the  fatter : 
he  personates  him  ;  is,  as  the  technical  phrase  is, 
"in  loco  parentis."  In  the  settlement  of  the 
question,  Wbo  shall  represent  him  ?  a  father  will 
then  certainly  insist  on  having  a  conscientious 
teacber — one  whose  higb  sense  of  honor,  wbose 
feeling  of  deep  responsibility,  will  induce  him  to 
identify  himself  fully  with  parental  wishes  and 
plans,  and  merge  self  in  their  accomplishment — 
to  whom  it  win  be  a  matter  of  greater  delight 
to  secure  the  best  advancement  of  his  charge, 
than  any  individual  results  which  may  accrue 
to  himself.  A  conscientious  teacher  will  draw 
his  standard  of  duty  from  the  word  of  God, 
which,  while  he   commends   it   to   his  pupils. 


52  HOME    RESPONSIBILITIES 

he  will  seek  to  follow  himself,  and  will  feel 
that  his  accountability  is  to  God,  as  well  as  to 
him  who  honors  him  with  the  training  of  the 
objects  of  his  dearest  affections.  Only  snch  are 
worthy  the  teacher's  place. 

III.  Where  shall  the  education  be  given?  It 
has  become  quite  a  fashion  of  late  to  send  child- 
ren, away  from  home  for  education.  What  are 
we  to  think  of  this  practice?  is  the  question. 
That  there  are  cases  where  this  should  be  done, 
and  would  be  best  to  be  done,  is  not  to  be 
doubted ;  and  where  such  necessity  exists,  it 
will  be  regarded  by  the  sensitive  parent  with 
regret.  The  inability  to  obtain  suitable  advan- 
tages near  home  may  be  a  cause.  The  loss  of 
the  female  head  of  a  group  of  children,  and  the 
unfavorable  position  of  the  remaining  parent, 
does  often  lead  to  it.  An  infirm  state  of  health 
at  home  may  make  a  transfer  to  a  more  salu- 
brious atmosphere  desirable  ;  and  other  circum- 
stances, not  specially  complimentary  to  family 
management,  can  be  readily  conceived,  in  which 
the  obvious  propriety  of  the  measure  meets  all 
inquiries.  But  without  some  special  controlling 
consideration,  which  will  justify  it  to  his  own 
conscience,  no  man  should  allow  himself  in  such 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  53 

policy,  and  do  tlie  violence  which  the  young 
heart  suffers  on  separation  from  home.  In  the 
first  place,  he  has  no  right  to  transfer  his  re- 
sponsibilities to  other  hands,  without  a  sufficient 
reason.  God  holds  him  directly  amenable.  His 
duty  is  primary,  and  it  is  of  such  a  nature  that 
no  one  else  can  really  perform  it.  And  then 
the  risks  he  runs  are  of  the  most  serious  char- 
acter. Among  these  are,  the  loss  of  a  home 
feeling  on  the  part  of  his  child ;  the  diminution 
of  interest  in  his  own  heart ;  the  sacrifice  of  all 
the  enjoyment  connected  with  having  his  flock 
around,  and  watching  their  progress  and  cheer- 
ing them  on;  the  casting  of  his  child  into  a 
circle  of  influences  which  he  can  not  control,  and 
a  training  in  sly  trickery  and  various  indul- 
gencies,  which  have  been  complained  of  in  the 
most  carefully  managed  boarding-schools,  and 
which  have  only  come  to  light  when  the  evil 
was  done ;  in  a  word,  thrusting  a  child  almost 
entirely  on  mercenary  services. 

Some  men  use  glowing  terms  in  depict- 
ing the  disadvantage  of  raising  boys  in  a 
city;  and  one  would  suppose  the  city-bred 
boy  must  of  necessity  be  ruined.  But  it 
is  mere  talk — a  cover,  in  many  cases,  for  a 
fashion  which  the  parental  heart  should  shrink 


54  HOME   RESPaNSIBILITIES 

from.  The  truth  is,  there  are  evil  influences 
everywhere ;  in  various  situations  various 
forms  of  evil,  ajnd  all  tend  to  the  downward 
road  ;  but  who  better  adapted  to  ferret  out  the 
danger  than  a  father  ?  and  where  can  a  child  be 
safer  than  under  a  father's  eye  daily  ?  It  may 
be  confidently  said,  that  if  proper  care  is  taken, 
the  safest  place  for  boys  is  in  the  home  circle, 
where  the  ten  thousand  nameless  but  felt  forms 
of  good  influence,  are  brought  to  bear,  and  will 
operate  now  to  check  and  then  to  cheer,  and 
constitute  a  lever  of  incalculable  power.  How 
much  of  the  practice  spoken  of  may  be  set 
down  to  mere  selfish  desire  to  get  rid  of  care 
and  to  secure  more  uninterrupted  opportunity 
for  the  slavery  to  money-making,  we  do  not  say. 
Men  complain  of  want  of  time  to  give  proper 
attention  to  the  oversight  necessary ;  but  where 
is  their  warrant  for  overriding  one  of  their  most 
important  duties  ?  That  excuse,  want  of  time, 
is  equivalent  to  a  confession  that  something  is 
wrong.  If  a  man  must  have  relief,  why  not 
seek  it  by  some  auxiliary  in  his  business,  and 
not  in  sending  off  his  children  ?  Is  it  true 
that  his  money  affairs  are  nearer  his  heart 
than  his  care  for  those  whom  God  has  given 
him? 


OF   THE   MAN^   OF   BUSINESS.  55 

Again,  say  some,  it  is  not  good  to  have 
children  grow  up  in  so  mucli  society  as  we 
have,  and  amid  such  distractions.  The  sim- 
ple reply  is,  have  less.  Will  you  indulge  in 
the  giddy  round  of  social  indulgence,  without 
calculating  the  cost,  in  the  necessary  results,  to 
the  home  group  ?  Still  others  say,  it  is  better  to 
send  children  from  home  to  learn  the  way  of 
the  world,  and  to  cultivate  their  own  resources, 
and  not  follow  a  parent's  leading.  What!  is 
there  not  enough  of  the  world  before  their  eyes, 
passing  to  and  fro  daily  ?  and  as  for  resources, 
had  they  not  better  get  them  before  they  rely 
on  them?  Bo  we  send  a  frail  bark  on  the 
ocean  without  pilot  and  ballast  ?  Shall  a  man 
send  his  sons  abroad  ere  their  principles  and 
character  are  formed  ?  Let  it  not  be  supposed, 
while  this  argument  tends  to  keep  children 
at  home  for  education,  that  therefore  the 
boarding-school  system,  as  such,  is  undervalued. 
By  no  means  ;  it  has  an  important  place,  and 
that  has  been  in  the  outset  noted ;  it  is  only  the 
abuse  in  the  case  against  which  a  voice  is  raised. 
One  must  have  little  acquaintance  with  it,  who 
does  not  know  cases  where  the  boarding-school 
training  has  been  crowned  with  the  richest 
blessings ;  still  it  must  be  said  the  domestic  has 


56  HOME   RESPONSIBILITIES 

a  more  blessed  potency ;  and  we  tMnk  it  must 
have  because  it  is  tlie  original,  divine  plan,  for 
wMch  tlie  other  occupies  the  place  of  a  partial 
substitute. 

Happy  man  he,  who  places  first  among  the 
objects  of  domestic  interest,  the  proper  cultiva- 
tion of  the  minds  and  hearts  of  his  children, 
keeps  them  around  him,  observes  the  progress 
of  each,  cherishing  with  warm  affection  every 
stage  of  onward  struggle,  drinks  in  delight,  as, 
when  the  shackles  of  business  are  thrown  off,  he 
notes  the  work  of  the  day  and  the  earnest  pre- 
paration for  the  morrow  ;  watches  all  the  asso- 
ciations formed,  and  encourages  what  is  in  har- 
mony with  his  own  aims,  and  has  the  pleasing 
consciousness  as  he  lays  his  own  head  on  his 
pillow,  that  each  member  of  his  house  is  in  his 
and  her  place  of  repose,  safe  from  evil. 

IV.  "When  shall  the  education  begin,  and  how 
long  shall  it  be  continued  ?  In  the  proper  sense 
of  training,  never  too  early;  in  the  scholastic 
sense,  not  by  any  means  as  early  as  is  the  com- 
mon practice.  It  is  a  cruelty  practised  on  a 
little  one  to  sit  it  down  to  book-labor  at  four 
and  five  years  of  age — ^shut  it  up  in  a  school- 
room for  four  and  even  six  hours  per  day,  and 
restrain  its  little  limbs  in  a  fixed  position,  and 


OF   TIIE   MAT^^    OF    BUSINESS.  57 

the  body  in  a  starcliy  perpendicular  posture,  with 
all  the  horrors  of  a  school-dame's  anger  in  ter- 
rorem  over  it.  It  is  absurd  ;  it  is  unnecessary. 
Common  sense  says,  let  it  run  ;  nature  says,  let 
it  run ;  common  humanity  says,  let  it  run. 
The  ambition  to  show  off  the  book  attainments 
of  a  little  one,  at  the  expense  of  its  health,  is 
disreputable.  The  early  years  belong  to  the 
physical  system,  to  air,  to  exercise.  And  no- 
thing is  lost ;  for  nature — every  thing  around 
is  teaching,  through  the  eye  and  the  ear.  It  is 
object  teaching,  the  true  basis  of  sound  and 
healthy  progress.  It  is  this  which  awakens  the 
mind,  and  at  the  proper  time  will  make  the  ac- 
quisition of  the  contents  of  books  to  be  eagerly 
sought  after.  "Whatever  may  be  communicated, 
in  an  amusing  way,  may  be  done  ;  but  the  first 
consideration  is  health. 

Having  well  begun,  the  completion  of  educa- 
tion, if  the  phrase  may  be  suffered,  should  not 
be  hastened.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  limit  the 
preparatory  course  to  a  fixed  age,  as  many  do. 
A  most  deplorable  thing  it  is  that  children  must 
be  turned  out  finished  men  and  women,  as  we 
turn  out  the  various  articles  of  household  furni- 
ture, by  a  short,  patent  process,  as  if  mind,  and 
character,   and  intelligence,  may   be   done   to 


58  HOME   EESPONSIBILITIES 

order.     Every  thing  is  in  a  hurry  among  us, 
and  tlie  results  savor  of  the  forcing  process. 

It  is  painful  to  see  the  eagerness  of  parents  to 
hurry  the  uninformed  mind  into  society  and 
business,  at  the  point  of  most  critical  character, 
and  when  in  a  state  to  make  the  most  desii^able 
improvement.  In  a  commercial  community 
our  "business  men  commit  a  capital  mistake  by 
their  policy  of  abbreviating  the  course  of  in- 
struction, and  inflating  the  minds  of  their  sons 
with  the  notion  of  rushing  into  money-making, 
and  early  realizing  fortunes.  It  is  simply  un- 
true that  a  complete  education  is  of  no  use  to  a 
man  of  business.  Through  every  step  of  an 
important  business  he  must  have  enlarged 
views,  or  he  must  fee  the  intellect  that  has 
them.  And  when  his  money  is  made,  what  is 
it  to  him  if  he  has  not  intellectual  resources  to 
fall  back  on,  or  cultivation  to  enjoy  it  ?  The 
confessions  and  regrets  of  not  a  few  retired 
men,  their  ennui,  their  premature  senility,  tell 
most  painfully  of  the  want  of  a  culture  which 
early  education  only  could  give.  Much  might 
be  said  here  to  meet  the  tendencies  to  break  off 
an  education,  at  its  most  important  stage,  for 
the  pursuits  of  the  shop  and  the  counting-room, 
and  much  to  show  that  after  his  course  is  ac- 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  59 

complislied,  a  lad  is  not  unfitted  for  the  details 
of  business.  Facts  in  abundance  sbow  that  if 
there  be  frippery,  wastefulness,  expensive  habits, 
mad  and  ruinous  speculation,  they  will  be  most- 
ly found  among  men  whose  minds  have  not  en- 
joyed the  benefit  of  a  sound  education.  Every 
successful  man  of  business  owes  it  to  the  future 
of  his  children,  and  the  character  of  his  class, 
to  lay  his  plans  for  as  extensive  an  education  as 
his  opportunities  will  allow. 

THE   PEIEST    OF   THE    HOME    CIRCLE. 

The  man  of  business  the  priest  of  the  Home 
circle !  Yes :  and  let  not  any  startle  at  this 
combination.  Let  him  hear  Paul :  "  Diligent  in 
business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord." 
This  is  the  most  important,  the  most  honorable, 
the  most  blessed  of  his  relations.  The  term 
priest  is  here  used  in  the  sense  of  a  leader,  oi- 
guide,  or  teacher  in  religion.  Before  an  official 
priesthood  was  instituted,  the  father  was  the 
priest,  ministered  in  holy  things,  and  performed 
the  sacrificial  services — and  since  an  office  has 
been  perpetuated  for  instruction  in  what  per- 
tains to  eternal  life,  the  father  is  not  and  can  not 
be  exonerated  from  what  falls  naturally  within 
his  province.     To  him  comes  home  the  charge 


60  HOME   RESPONSIBILITIES 

to  bring  up  his  flock  in  tlie  nurture  and  admo- 
nition of  tlie  Lord.  Fidelity  here  is  beyond 
any  governing  ability  be  may  possess — any 
temporal  provision  be  may  make — any  educa- 
tion be  may  secure.  It  bas  to  do  witb  tbe 
interests  of  bis  children  in  two  worlds,  to  the 
latter  of  which  tbe  present  is  less  than  a  mo- 
ment to  a  lifetime.  The  duty  here  is  inalien- 
able. He  may  have  auxibary  agencies,  and  he 
is  blessed  witb  them,  in  the  form  of  an  ample 
juvenile  rebgious  bterature — ^in  the  form  of  the 
Sabbath-school  and  Bible-class  teacher,  and 
especially  in  tbe  person  of  a  pious  wife,  tbe 
godly  mother  of  his  children ;  but  still,  tbe 
special,  direct  duty  is  his,  and  he  may  not,  as  he 
values  the  interests  committed  to  him — as  he 
values  his  own  peace  of  mind,  allow  business  to 
interfere  with  it.  It  can  be  no  satisfaction  to  him, 
yes,  it  can  only  be  a  subject  of  bitter  reflection 
to  his  last  moment,  if  bis  children  have  grown 
up  irreligious,  worldly-minded,  reckless  of  eter- 
nal things,  and  have  so  gone  from  his  circle 
upon  the  broad  area  of  the  world  beyond, 
through  his  neglect  and  failure  to  do  his  duty ; 
through  his  allowing  tbe  business  of  the  world 
to  shut  bis  eyes  and  bis  heart  against  their  best 
interests. 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  61 

Is  the  inquiry  made,  What  shall  he  do  for 
them  ?     The  proper  answer  is  at  hand. 

I.  Set  them  an  example  of  personal  regard  for 
religion,  and  all  that  pertains  properly  to  it. 
This,  presented  daily  before  them,  will  make  an 
appeal  which  will  tend,  more  than  arguments, 
to  fix  attention  and  captivate  the  heart,  and 
especially  may  this  be  hoped  in  the  case  of  boys. 
This  example  should  be  comprehensive.  The 
habitual  reading  of  the  Bible,  the  careful  ob- 
servance of  the  holy  day  of  God ;  (not  making 
it  a  day  of  feasting,  of  pleasure-walking,  visit- 
ing, correspondence,  overlooking  old  accounts,  or 
general  reading :)  the  faithful  attendance  on  the 
house  of  God,  the  pure  conversation,  the  living 
a  life  of  integrity,  all  of  which  speak  directly 
to  the  heart,  should  characterize  it. 

II.  The  faithful  observance  oi  family  \oorsTiip 
has  a  blessed,  influence  in  leading  the  young 
heart  aright,  while  it  is  to  be  commended,  as 
is  in  itself  an  important  duty.  It  is  marked  in 
the  sacred  word  as  a  melancholy  thing  to  be  of 
the  families  that  call  not  on  God.  What  more 
natural,  more  proper,  than  that,  in  anticipation 
of  the  uncertainties  of  the  night  watches,  the 
parent  should  commend  the  family  circle  to  the 
care  of  Him  who  never  slumbers  nor  sleeps  ;  and 


62  HOME   EESPONSIBILITIES 

when  the  morning  comes,  that  grateful  returns 
should  go  up  to  the  Divine  Shepherd,  and  that  in 
all  the  ex]30sures  of  the  day  his  care  should  be 
sought  ?  In  the  habitual  observance  of  such  ser- 
vice, the  young  heart  has  brought  before  it,  in 
touching  form,  its  dependence  and  its  obligations, 
and  the  thoughts  and  general  views  and  conduct 
of  the  day  are  most  likely  to  be  viewed  in  refer- 
ence to  God.  All  the  exercises  of  such  occasions 
should  be  brief,  cheerful,  comprehensive.  'No  man 
need  feel  a  diJBBlculty  here  for  want  of  gifts  ;  for 
there  are  within  his  reach  various  auxiliaries,  in 
the  form  of  books  of  family  devotion,  which  he 
may  use. 

III.  He  should  carry  his  children  to  tJie 
lumse  of  God.  To  send  them,  is  one  thing ;  to 
take  them  with  him  still  better,  and  the  true 
course.  God  has  eminently  honored  fidelity  in 
this  respect.  The  fact  of  Divine  institution,  re- 
gard for  his  children,  respect  for  the  minister, 
the  influence  on  society,  as  well  as  desire  direct- 
ly for  religious  benefits,  unite  to  urge  it.  Kegu- 
larly,  punctually,  uniformly  and  always  when 
the  sanctuary  is  open,  should  be  the  rule. 

IV.  The  furnishing  a  carefully  selected  reli- 
gious literature  is  of  immense  moment.  Time 
was  when  this  was  out  of  the  question ;  but  not 


OF   THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  63 

SO  now.  From  the  earliest  to  the  most  ad- 
vanced in  the  family,  choice  adaptations  may  be 
found.  The  matter  of  most  difficulty  now  is  se- 
lection ;  but  this  need  not  leave  any  man  at  a  loss. 
Biography,  missionary  research,  narratives  and 
allegories  are  at  hand,  as  well  as  the  more  di- 
rect religious  exposition. 

V.  A  man  should  have  special  rega/rd  to  the 
associations  of  Ms  cliildren^  the  whole  arrange- 
ment  of  social  intercourse^  and  the  gratification 
furnished  to  his  young  flock.  These,  if  not 
attended  to,  may  undo  all  he  has  done,  and  per- 
veii:   and   alienate   the   heart   he   would  win. 

While  these  particulars  are  stated,  it  is  not 
to  be  supposed  they  are  exhaustive  of  the  sub- 
ject. Unconsciously  the  Home  responsibilities 
are  in  danger  of  occupying  too  large  a  share  of 
this  work,  and  therefore  other  points  must  be 
left  out,  while  even  the  above  cannot  be  properly 
expanded.  Let,  however,  what  has  been  stated 
be  properly  regarded,  and  it  is  confidently  be- 
lieved good  will  result. 

That  man  of  business  who  sustains  a  family 
relation,  lives  under  heavy  responsibilities.  His 
children  have  claims  on  him,  society  has  claims 
on  him — above  all,  God  has  claims  on  him.  As 
the  Home  Governor,  the  Home  Provider,  the 


64  HOME   RESPONSIBILITIES. 

Home  Educator,  and  especially  as  the  Priest  of 
Home,  lie  needs  to  look  personally  for  tlie  di- 
vine aid.  Favored  lot,  Ms !  He  has  every  en- 
couragement to  commit  himself  and  all  his  to 
the  hand  which  places  the  solitary  in  families. 
Before  him  opens  a  future  full  of  hope.  The 
promise  is,  our  "labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the 
Lord."  Successful  in  securing  the  object  of  his 
deep  solicitude,  what  a  circle,  in  advancing  years, 
may  he  hope  to  gather  around  him,  to  cheer  the 
mellow  decline  of  life,  and  what  a  glorious  re- 
union will  that  be  when  he  and  they  shall  meet 
before  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb ! 


MEN  OF  BUSINESS 


THEIR     INTELLECTUAL     CULTURE, 


JONATHAN  F.  STEARNS,  D.D. 


INTELLECTUAL     CULTURE 


OP  THE 


MAN   OF   BUSINESS. 


IiTTELLiGET^CE  IS  an  essential  requisite  to  riglit 
action.  It  is  tlie  source  of  power.  It  serves  to 
develop  and  advance  to  their  proper  maturity, 
all  tlie  faculties  with  wMcli  God  lias  endowed 
us.  It  is  tlie  nurse  and  instrument  of  virtue. 
It  \b  tlie  handmaid  of  religion.  We  can  scarcely 
over-estimate  it,  though  we  may  assign  to  it  a 
disproportionate  value  ;  and  this  we  shall  do  if 
we  exalt  it  above  moral  and  rehgious  attain- 
ments, or  admit  that  it  can  accomplish  much 
good,  either  for  individuals  or  for  the  commu- 
nity, when  these  are  neglected. 

But  the  cultivation  of  the  intellect,  based 
upon  moral  and  rehgious  principles,  and  sub- 
ordinate to  them,  exalts  our  nature  and  enlarges 


2  INTELLECTUAL    CULTTJKE   01* 

all  our  capacities  for  enjoyment  and  usefulness. 
It  is  not  the  privilege  only  of  the  few.  In  dif- 
ferent degrees,  varying  according  to  capacity 
and  circumstances,  it  is  the  common  boon  of 
humanity.  All  classes  ought  to  be  admitted  to 
its  benefits.  And  yet  it  can  not  be  denied  that 
they  especially  require  and  are  entitled  to  them, 
on  whom  devolve  the  leading  parts  in  the  great 
drama  of  human  action  and  advancement. 

The  social  state  requires  for  its  well-being  a 
great  variety  of  services.  Society  is  not  a  mere 
aggregation,  a  quantity  to  be  estimated  by  the 
relations  of  more  and  less,  better  and  worse,  but 
an  organic  whole — a  system  in  which  the  indi- 
viduals are  all  members,  each  needful  for  each, 
and  all  for  all.  A  heap  of  grain  may  be  larger 
or.  smaller.  A  bag  of  money  may  contain  a 
greater  or  less  number  of  coins,  and  these  may 
be  severally  of  greater  or  less  value.  Take  one 
away,  and  there  is  but  just  so  much  less  remain- 
ing. But  it  is  not  so  with  human  society.  That 
resembles  rather  an  engine  or  a  watch.  Every 
wheel  or  spring  or  valve  has  its  appropriate  use. 
A  thousand  pistons  could  not  supply  the  place 
of  one  safety-valve,  nor  a  thousand  mainsprings 
that  of  one  balance-wheel. 

In  a  low  state  of  civilization,  the  diversities 


THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  8 

of  employment  are  comparatively  few.  Men's 
habits  are  simple,  and  they  liave  few  wants.  But 
as  improvement  advances,  wants  multiply.  Tlie 
demand  for  superior  products  creates  a  neces- 
sity for  more  concentrated  application.  Society 
gets  distributed  into  various  classes,  each  occu- 
pying its  own  allotted  sphere,  and  doing  its  own 
work,  with  an  exclusiveness  which,  at  first  view, 
seems  totally  indifferent  to  the  pursuits  of  others. 
And  yet,  if  you  look  narrowly,  that  very  exclu- 
siveness shows  the  existence  of  a  most  extensive 
and  closely  connected  inter-dependence. 

In  such  a  system,  no  one  of  the  legitimate 
employments  can  well  be  dispensed  with.  There 
are,  it  is  true,  vicious  employments  and  vicious 
distinctions  in  society,  whose  continuance  and 
success  we  can  not  but  regard  with  dread. 
They  are  the  evil  growth  of  a  diseased  state  of 
the  body  politic.  Plato  thought  it  wise  to  ex- 
clude from  his  theoretic  commonwealth  several 
arts  and  professions  which,  in  the  present  state 
of  the  world,  are  held  in  high  esteem.  So  would 
the  Christian  statesman,  looking  over  the  com- 
munity as  it  now  is,  see  occasion  to  deprecate 
and  discourage  not  a  few,  which  hold  a  place 
among  us  only  as  the  instruments  of  men's  vices. 
But  not  of  this  character  are  those  various  trades, 


4  INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE   OF 

professions  or  vocations,  by  wMcIl  virtuous  men 
obtain  tbeir  livelihood ;  those,  namely,  which 
supply  some  real  want,  avert  some  dreaded  evil, 
or  promote  some  valuable  improvement  of  hu- 
manity. These  may  be  looked  upon  as  but  so 
many  limbs  or  organs  of  the  body  politic — ^in- 
struments of  its  well-being  or  well-working. 
Take  any  of  them  away,  and  what  remains  is 
not  merely  a  diminished  quantity,  but  a  disor- 
dered, maimed,  and  crippled  whole.  Our  civil- 
ization— ^to  wit,  such  civilization  as  Christian 
influences  have  developed — ^requires  for  its  sup- 
port and  advancement  just  such  branches  of 
physical  and  mental  industry  as  we  see  flourish- 
ing around  us.  And  it  is  a  matter  of  interest 
to  the  entire  community,  not  only  that  each 
class  should  be  sustained,  but  that  to  each  should 
be  given  the  best  possible  training  to  fit  them 
for  their  several  callings. 

Among  these  classes  stands  prominent  the 
MAN  OF  BUSINESS.  In  claiming  for  him  a  large 
share  of  intellectual  culture,  we  have  regard  to 
the  important  character  of  his  functions,  and  the 
leading  position  which  he  is  to  occupy  among 
the  forces  of  society.  We  include  in  this  class, 
not  the  merchant  or  the  trader  only,  though 
these  may  be  regarded  as  the  type  of  the  class — • 


THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  5 

they  are  among  its  most  prominent  specimens, 
and  the  pursuits  of  the  man  of  business,  in  all 
departments,  partake  more  or  less  of  the  mer- 
cantile character :  we  include  in  it  all  those 
whose  vocation  it  is  to  organize  and  direct  the 
industrial  forces  of  the  community — the  manu- 
facturer, the  master  mechanic,  the  contractor, 
or  the  superintendent,  in  the  various  enterprises 
of  production,  accommodation  or  improvement. 
All  our  higher  wants  require  complicated  pro- 
cesses and  combined  skill.  The  man  of  business 
undertakes  to  bring  about  the  requisite  com- 
bination— to  provide  for  its  facilities,  and  to 
furnish  to  the  various  classes  of  society,  each 
according  to  their  wants,  the  finished  results. 

To  this  class  every  other  in  the  community  is 
a  debtor.  The  laborer,  the  artisan,  the  artist, 
the  traveller,  the  statesman  and  jurist,  the  cler- 
gyman, the  physician,  the  devotee  of  science, 
and  the  man  of  literary  leisure — what  could  any 
of  them  accomplish,  but  for  the  reliance  they 
are  allowed  to  place  on  the  skill,  energy,  activity, 
and  faithfulness  of  the  man  of  business?  His 
enterprises  farnish  employment  to  thousands 
who  could  not  otherwise  have  employed  them- 
selves ;  and  the  little  dowry  and  patrimony  on 
which  the  widow  and  orphan  rely  for  their  daily 


6  INTELLECTUAL    CULTURE   OP 

bread,  finds  its  entire  productive  value  in  tlie 
profitable  uses  to  wMcli  lie  is  able  to  apply  it. 
This  class  forms  tbe  very  sinews,  ligaments,  and 
conducting  arteries  of  all  social  organization. 
He  acts  as  mediator  between  tlie  individual  and 
tlie  community,  and  by  bis  agency  alone  the 
possessions,  talents,  and  achievements  of  one 
acquire  a  real  value  for  all. 

We  are  looking  witb  great  interest  to  tbe 
improvement  of  society.  But  there  has  never 
been  any  considerable  social  advancement,  whe- 
tlier  in  ancient  or  modern  times,  wherein  this 
class  has  not,  first  or  last,  played  a  prominent 
part.  China  and  India,  as  their  earliest  records 
show,  distinguished  themselves  as  mercantile 
nations,  from  the  earliest  antiquity.  Assyria, 
Phoenicia,  Carthage  suggest  the  idea  of  com- 
mercial greatness,  on  the  bare  mention  of  their 
names.  One  of  the  earliest  notices  we  have  of 
ancient  Egypt,  is  that  of  companies  of  merchants 
travelling  from  Gilead,  to  bring  "  spices,  myrrh, 
and  balm,"  and  carry  them  down  thither  as 
articles  of  traffic.  Greece,  the  most  accomplished 
of  the  ancient  nations,  owed  all  her  great  supe- 
riority, her  laws,  her  commanding  influence 
among  the  nations,  her  philosophy,  her  refine- 
ment in  art,  literature  and  manners,  in  no  small 


THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  7 

degree,  to  the  stimulus  given  to  her  once  rude 
people,  by  commercial  enterprises.  These  old 
heathen  civilizations,  such  as  they  were — and 
none  can  doubt  they  were  a  great  improvement 
on  the  barbarism  that  preceded  and  surrounded 
them — ^grew  up  not  so  much  under  the  shades 
of  leisurely  contemplation,  as  in  the  dust  and 
stir  and  jostling  competition  of  business.  And 
the  nation  of  Israel — ^though  their  civilization 
was  designed  to  bear  a  peculiar  character,  less 
dependent  than  that  of  others  upon  this  class 
of  influences — show  plainly,  in  the  days  of  their 
greatest  prosperity  and  glory — ^the  days  of  Solo- 
mon— a  very  remarkable  development  of  busi- 
ness enterprise  and  activity. 

If  we  turn  to  the  civilization  of  modern  times, 
we  find  there  a  very  marked  illustration  of  the 
point  before  us.  It  took  its  beginnings  amidst 
scenes  of  violence  and  confusion.  The  wreck  of 
former  grandeur  and  opulence  was  strewed  over 
the  waves  of  centuries.  The  providence  of  God, 
having  in  view  some  better  product,  had  broken 
up  all  the  old  systems  of  social  organization,  and 
ground  them  into  shapeless  masses,  so  as  to  pre- 
pare them  to  receive  a  new  principle.  There 
they  lay,  heaving  and  fermenting,  over  an  entire 
continent.    Business  men,  at  that  period,  scarcely 


8  INTELLECTUAL    CULTUKE    OF 

existed  as  a  class.  War  exhausted  tlie  talents, 
the  energies,  and  the  resources  of  the  superioi* 
classes,  and  hopeless  servitude  was  the  fate  of 
the  inferior.  The  feudal  chieftain,  the  successful 
soldier,  and  the  wily  ecclesiastic,  held  in  their 
own  hands  the  forces  of  the  world,  and  dealt 
out  its  resources  as  they  chose,  to  their  depend- 
ent retainers.  Then  the  intercourse  of  nations 
did  not  lie  in  the  exchange  of  commodities. 
The  gathering  of  wealth  was  a  matter  of  whole- 
sale robbery  or  of  cunning  extortion.  The 
banker  was  a  Jew ;  the  lender  of  money  was  a 
usurer ;  the  merchant  was  regarded  a^  one  who 
extorts  a  kind  of  tribute  from  the  luxury  oi' 
necessities  of  his  fellow  men.  And  hence  we 
find,  among  the  acts  of  ecclesiastical  councils — 
those  most  potent  engines  of  power  in  the  mid- 
dle ages — a  decree  condemning  the  employment 
of  the  merchant,  as  one  which  no  virtuous 
Christian  could  pursue. 

But  the  fabric  of  society  could  not  always 
remain  in  this  confused  and  broken  state.  A 
principle  was  at  work  tending  to  reorganize  it 
on  a  nobler  plan.  Christianity  began  to  work 
its  way  among  the  social  elements;  and  now, 
the  appropriate  agent  of  advancing  civilization 
began  anew  to  acquire  dignity  and  importance. 


THE   MAN    OF   BUSmESS.  9 

Business  became  an  essential  function  of  the 
social  system.  The  earth  was  found  to  contain 
inexhaustible  riches  fitted  to  man's  use,  intellect- 
ual and  physical.  Princely  magnificence  did 
not  comprise  all  the  magnificence  of  the  world. 
The  cabinets  of  kings  did  not  contain  all  the 
gems,  nor  their  treasuries  all  the  silver  and  gold, 
nor  the  rich  cathedrals  of  those  other  lords,  the 
rulers  of  the  Church,  all  the  marbles  and  pre- 
cious stones,  nor  the  broad  land,  seized  by  the 
swords  of  the  one  or  donated  to  the  other  as 
the  bribe  of  salvation,  all  the  productive  soil 
given  to  man  by  the  divine  bounty  as  his  ample 
inheritance.  Caravans  crossed  the  desert,  and 
came  back  loaded  with  the  wealth  of  distant 
India — gold  and  gems  from  its  mines,  pearls 
from  its  oceans,  sweet  odors  from  its  forests,  silk 
from  its  looms.  Adventurous  mariners  pushed 
their  way  into  unknown  seas,  and  opened  ne^^ 
channels  for  the  intercourse  of  traffic.  They 
crossed  the  wild  and  hitherto  mysterious  ocean, 
and  added  new  lands — a  new  world,  as  it  was 
appropriately  called — ^to  the  habitable  earth 
known  to  their  fathers — ^lands  richer  than  fable, 
and  beautiful,  even  in  their  native  wildness,  as 
the  garden  of  Eden.  To  bring  these  new  lands 
into  use  and  occupancy,  to  develop  and  apply 


10  INTELLECTUAL   CULTUEE   OF 

to  useful  purposes  resources  wliicli  had  been 
locked  up  since  creation,  to  make  tlie  superfluity 
of  one  land  supply  tlie  deficiencies  of  another, 
to  increase  wealth  as  well  as  make  it  exchange 
hands,  to  make  money  as  well  as  to  get  it,  now 
woke  into  the  most  eager  exercise  powers 
and  faculties  which  had  hitherto  lain  dormant. 
Thus  cities  rose.  Freedom  was  felt  as  a  neces- 
sity, and  was  claimed  and  vindicated  as  a  right. 
Invention  was  stimulated,  art  began  to  put  forth 
her  beautiful  creations,  knowledge  increased, 
genius  and  talent  were  called  forth,  civilization 
advanced. 

When  we  look  back  over  a  period  of  ^ve 
hundred  years,  and  compare,  or  rather  contrast, 
the  condition  of  the  world  then  and  now,  how 
great  is  our  astonishment !  And  what  has  ac- 
complished this  change — science?  art?  general 
intelligence  ?  free  government  ?  Yes ;  all  these 
unquestionably  have  had  their  influence.  But 
there  has  been  another  force  steadily  operating, 
without  whose  aid  and  instrumentality  none  of 
these  could  have  accomplished  what  they  have 
done.  It  is  trade.  This  has  given  to  science 
one  of  its  most  effective  stimulants.  It  has 
been  an  engine  of  freedom  undermining  feudal- 
ism, diffusing  intelligence,  elevating  the  people. 


THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  11 

Even  religion  owns  its  services,  and  has  found 
in  it,  on  tlie  whole,  a  most  effective  instrument 
of  its  purposes.  The  Reformation,  humanly 
speaking,  could  not  have  taken  place  without 
it ;  the  standard  of  the  cross,  waving  benignly 
amidst  Christian  homes  and  the  rich  products 
of  Christian  civilization,  could  not  have  been 
erected  on  these  new  shores ;  nor  could  Christ- 
ian missionaries,  bearing  messages  of  salvation, 
have  gone  forth  into  the  four  corners  of  the 
earth. 

From  these  facts,  it  has  followed  as  a  matter 
of  course,  that  the  class  of  men  engaged  in 
managing  this  agency,  have  assumed  a  very  dif- 
ferent position  from  that  which  they  once  occu- 
pied. History  tells  us  how  it  was  at  a  very 
early  day.  The  Medici  of  Florence,  those  mer- 
chant princes,  whose  financial  operations  con- 
trolled the  march  of  armies,  and  made  and 
unmade  kings — ^whose  palaces  were  the  seat  not 
of  wealth  and  power  only,  but  of  taste,  of  art, 
of  refinement,  of  all  sorts  of  intellectual  culture — 
were  but  a  prominent  specimen  among  many 
who  filled  the  cities  of  Italy  with  learned  men, 
and  wrote  chapters  in  the  book  of  history,  over 
which  modern  eyes  linger  with  admiration. 
Nor  was  it  these  riches  only  that  gave  them 
2 


12  mTELLECTUAL   CULTUEE   OF 

this  elevation.  It  was  tlie  functions  they  dis- 
charged. The  baron  and  the  king,  the  bishop 
and  the  pope,  saw  a  mighty  rival — not  in  respect 
to  wealth  and  splendor  only,  but  to  power,  to 
control  over  the  actions  and  destinies  of  men,  to 
whatsoever  gives  authority  and  dignity  to  man 
in  the  eyes  of  his  fellows — ^in  the  owner  of  rich 
argosies.  A  while  they  strove  to  patronize  the 
new  nobility,  give  to  a  few  of  its  chiefs  a  certain 
place  in  their  own  ranks,  and  make  it  receive 
at  their  hands  its  privileges  and  honors.  Hence 
merchants  became  princes,  and  merchants'  sons 
generals,  prime  ministers,  or  high  ecclesiastics. 
But  this  could  not  last  always.  The  new  j)ower 
was  not  long  a  child.  It  had  a  giant's  strength 
and  a  giant's  proportions.  There  was  in  it  a 
spirit  not  of  independence  only,  but  of  authority. 
Gradually  it  won  its  way  against  the  opposing 
force  of  older  dynasties,  fighting  and  yielding, 
fighting  and  yielding  under  the  pressure  of  in- 
fluences long  dominant,  until  at  length  it  became 
an  established  and  well-recognized  power  among 
the  nations;  and,  taking  its  seat  side  by  sido 
with  the  most  legitimate,  sways  a  sceptre  which 
not  a  government  in  the  world  would  venture 
to  disregard. 

Were  the  question  asked.  What  is  at  this 


THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  13 

moment  tlie  strongest  power  in  operation  for 
controlling,  regulating,  and  inciting  tlie  actions 
of  men  ?  what  lias  most  at  its  disposal  tlie  con- 
dition and  destinies  of  the  world  ?  we  must  an- 
swer at  once,  it  is  that  business,  in  its  various 
ranks  and  departments,  of  whicli  commerce, 
foreign  and  domestic,  is  the  most  appropriate 
representation.  In  all  prosperous  and  advanc- 
ing communities — advancing  in  arts,  knowledge, 
literature,  and  social  refinement — ^business  is  king. 
Other  influences  in  society  may  be  equally  in- 
dispensable, and  some  may  think  far  more"  digni- 
fied, but  business  is  king.  The  statesman  and 
the  scholar,  the  nobleman  and  the  prince,  equally 
with  the  manufacturer,  the  mechanic,  and  the 
laborer,  pursue  their  several  objects  only  by 
leave  granted,  and  means  furnished  by  this  po- 
tentate. 

And  if  this  is  true  as  a  characteristic  of  the 
age  generally,  it  is  preeminently  so  of  our  own 
country:  because  it  being  a  new  country,  all 
that  is  valuable  in  it  is  preeminently  in  a  pro- 
gressive state.  We  have  our  fortunes  yet  to 
make,  intellectually  and  socially,  as  well  as  phy- 
sically. Our  mansions  are  to  be  built,  our  institu- 
tions founded,  our  facilities  of  intercourse  perfect- 
ed, our  treasures  dug  out  of  the  earth,  and  all  the 


14  INTELLECTUAL    CULTUEE    OF 

resources  of  tlie  land  discovered  and  developed. 
You  may  set  a  soldier  to  guard  an  old  cabinet  of 
crown-jewels,  valued  chiefly  as  tlie  relics  of  an- 
cient kings,  or  you  may  lock  tkem  up  in  a  strong 
box  and  inclose  tliem  witMn  the  massive  walls 
of  a  strong  castle.  But  it  requires  enterprise, 
systematic  and  well-organized  industry,  and  the 
skill  and  courage  to  lay  out^  as  well  as  to  lay  wp^ 
in  order  to  discover,  bring  forth,  and  mould  into 
new  forms  of  beauty,  the  riches  which  lie  hid 
where  God  hoarded  them  in  the  jewel-cabinets 
and  treasuries  of  nature.  Old  conservatism, 
looking  only  to  the  past,  may  afford  to  dispense 
with  business,  and  perhaps  affect  to  despise  it ; 
but  young  and  hopeful  progress,  never.  In 
such  a  country  as  ours,  business  must  stand  in 
relations  of  peculiar  intimacy  with  every  pursuit 
and  calling  that  deserves  a  place  in  the  social 
economy.  Even  the  products  of  the  mind — 
ideas,  principles,  sentiments,  moral  and  religious 
truths — ^if  ever  they  are  to  become  parts  of  the 
common  inheritance,  working  forces  in  the  action 
of  the  community,  elements  of  its  character,  and 
guides  of  its  life,  must  make  their  way  to  such 
commanding  influence  under  its  banner.  You 
can  not  build  a  school-house  or  a  college,  you 
can  not  publish  a  book,  without  its  intervention. 


THE    MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  15 

The  book  must  be  one  tliat  will  sell,  or  who 
does  not  know  that,  for  all  the  purposes  for 
which  books  are  intended,  it  might  just  as  well 
not  have  been  written  ?  A  pulpit  can  not  be 
maintained  without  the  same  agency. 

Now,  from  all  these  considerations,  who  does 
not  perceive  the  vast  importance  of  looking  well 
to  the  character,  intellectual  as  well  as  moral 
and  religious,  of  our  business  men  ?  They  con- 
stitute a  claim  on  their  behalf  to  a  high  order 
of  intellectual  attainments.  That  a  class  occu- 
pying so  leading  a  position,  managing  interests 
of  such  vast  importance,  and  standing  in  such 
vital  relations  to  the  community  and  the  age, 
should  be  a  mere  race  of  drudges,  incompetent 
to  understand  their  own  position,  and  the  signi- 
ficance of  their  own  operations,  is  a  disgrace  and 
wrong  not  to  be  tolerated.  We  have  said,  busi- 
ness is  king.  A  burning  shame  would  it  be,  in 
such  an  age  as  this,  that  the  ministers  who  stand 
by  the  throne  and  execute  the  behests  of  this 
sovereign,  should  be  any  other  than  intelligent 
men.  Narrow  and  low  views,  vulgar  concep- 
tions, ignorance  of  the  true  nature  and  destiny 
of  mankind,  and  of  the  great  principles  of  truth 
and  righteousness  which  ought  to  govern  the 
world,  if  they  prevail  here,  will  be  sure  to  extend 


16  INTELLECTUAL    CULTURE   OF 

their  influence  to  the  corruption  and  degrada- 
tion of  the  entire  community.  No  learned  class, 
no  efforts  either  of  the  pulpit  or  the  press,  could 
do  more  than  check  the  progress  of  deterioration 
against  such  influences. 

We  have  been  looking  hopefully  for  a  higher 
type  of  men  to  arise  among  us,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  a  purer  and  more  fully  developed  Pro- 
testant Christianity.  "The  age  of  chivalry," 
said  an  illustrious  British  statesman,  "  is  gone." 
Gone  it  is,  even  in  Europe.  You  can  never 
recall  it.  Here,  it  never  had  an  existence  ;  and 
it  would  be  equally  vain  and  foolish  to  attempt 
to  produce  it.  Society  has  taken  a  new  shape, 
and  the  energies  of  the  race  have  passed  over 
into  a  new  field.  But  what  if,  with  the  more 
sterling  and  practical  virtues  which  seem  natur- 
ally to  belong  to  this  field,  we  could  reproduce, 
and  that  in  a  purer  form,  the  very  qualities  that 
gave  attractions  to  the  old — the  bloom,  and 
verdure,  and  freshness  of  the  ancient  knighthood 
in  the  quiet,  measured  gardens  of  modern  in- 
dustry and  enterprise  ?  Are  war  and  lawless 
violence,  and  the  semi-barbarous  relations  of 
lord  and  vassal,  really  a  better  state  for  the 
development  of  some .  of  the  nobler  virtues  of 
humanity,  than  peace,  order,  social  equality,  and 


THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  liT 

the  pursuits  of  industry  ?  Then  has  the  Gospel 
of  peace  left  defects  in  the  culture  which  it  offers, 
to  be  supplied  only  by  its  antagonist !  Then  the 
wolf  must  not,  always  and  everywhere,  dwell 
with  the  lamb,  nor  the  leopard  lie  down  with 
the  kid  !  We  shall  be  very  slow  to  admit  such 
a  conclusion.  We  venture,  on  the  contrary,  to 
affirm,  that  all  that  heroic  energy,  that  cour- 
ageous prudence,  that  independent  deference, 
that  self-reliant  self-devotion,  that  high  integrity, 
"that  sensibility  of  principle,  that  chastity  of 
honor  which  felt  a  stain  as  a  wound,"  so  eminently 
characteristic  of  the  ancient  chivalry  in  its  best 
specimens,  may  be  reproduced  on  an  improved 
plan,  in  what  are  deemed  by  many,  the  dull, 
unpoetical,  and  selfish  walks  of  a  life  of  business ; 
yes,  even  "  the  unbought  grace  of  life,  the  cheap 
defense  of  nations,  the  nurse  of  manly  sentiment 
and  heroic  enterprise,"  in  an  age  and  nation  of 
"  economists  and  calculators." 

But  if  this  be  true,  if  the  very  thought  be  not 
a  romantic  dream,  the  result  can  only  be  accom- 
plished by  elevating  the  character,  intellectual 
as  well  as  moral  and  religious,  of  our  business 
men.  Fortunately,  we  have  some  noble  exam- 
ples of  what  may  be  accomplished  in  this  respect. 
But  these  examples  must  be  emulated,  to  a  de- 


18  INTELLECTUAL    CULTURE    OF 

gree  far  surpassing  wliat  we  have  liitlierto  wit- 
nessed. Our  business  men,  as  a  claes^  must  feel 
it  to  be,  not  their  privilege  only,  but  their  sacred 
duty,  to  cultivate  their  minds,  and  furnish  them, 
in  as  large  measures  as  possible,  with  the  plea- 
sures and  advantages  of  knowledge. 

As  to  the  direct  preparation  of  the  man  of 
business  for  the  duties  of  his  calling,  some  may 
doubt  whether  intellectual  culture,  proj^erly  so 
called,  is  of  any  material  importance.  Leave 
that,  they  say,  to  scholars,  to  men  of  leisure,  to 
the  learned  professions.  Business  is  a  practical 
matter :  it  requires  experience  rather  than  study. 
The  sharpening  of  the  faculties  by  exercise,  the 
skill  and  insight  which  are  derived  from  the 
actual  doing  of  the  work,  the  training  afforded 
by  the  homely  and  practical  duties  of  an  appren- 
ticeship, are  worth  more  to  the  formation  of  a 
good  business  character,  than  all  the  studies  of 
the  school  or  the  college.  And  possibly  this  is 
true,  if  we  must  speak  comparatively,  if  we  must 
choose  one  of  the  two,  and  dispense  with  the 
other.  There  are  certain  parts  of  the  business 
man's  duties,  certain  details,  a  certain  routine, 
the  qualifications  for  which  can  be  obtained  only 
in  the  shop  or  counting-house.  And  these  qual- 
ifications are  indispensable ;   they  must  be  ac- 


THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  19 

quired  so  thoroughly  as  to  become  a  matter  of 
habit.  But  this  is  equally  true,  though  perhaps 
in  a  less  degree,  in  what  are  called  the  learned 
professions.  The  young  lawyer  must  have  an 
office-training  as  well  as  a  school-training.  The 
young  physician  must  attend  at  the  hospitals  or 
visit  the  houses  of  the  sick  in  company  with  his 
teacher,  as  well  as  attend  courses  of  lectures  at 
the  medical  college.  But  if,  in  these  latter  cases, 
theory  is  necessary  in  order  to  illuminate  and 
guide  practice ;  and  practice,  in  order  to  be  suc- 
cessful, must  consent  to  be  the  executor  of  a 
well-studied  theory,  so  in  the  former.  There 
are  theoretic  truths  applicable  to  business  ;  there 
are  principles,  there  are  fixed  and  general  laws, 
determining  its  aims  and  regulating  its  processes, 
just  as  truly  as  in  matters  usually  denominated 
scientific.  The  man  who  is  capable  of  reflection, 
of  induction  and  deduction,  who  has  facts  wisely 
gathered  in  his  possession,  and  can  see  their  bear- 
ings and  relations,  who  understands  general 
principles  and  is  able  to  apply  them  in  all  ex- 
igencies, must  have  an  immense  advantage,  even 
in  the  common  matters  of  gain  and  loss,  over 
the  man  of  blind  processes  and  stereotyped 
maxims. 

It  is  very  true,  that  many  a  learned  man  has 


20  INTELLECTUAL    CULTURE    OF 

utterly  failed  in  tlie  attempt  to  be  a  man  of 
business.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  many  an 
ignorant  man  has  had  what  has  been  deemed 
great  success  in  conducting  extensive  business 
operations,  and  amassing  property.  Some  ex- 
amples of  the  latter  sort  are  familiar  in  story. 
In  a  small  but  flourishing  seaport  of  New-Eng- 
land, there  lived,  fifty  years  ago,  a  man  so  igno- 
rant that  he  could  not  spell  correctly  the  com- 
monest words  in  his  language.  All  his  acquaint- 
ance regarded  him  as  only  half-witted,  although 
the  wit  he  had  was,  in  some  of  its  characteristics, 
peculiarly  shrewd.  This  man  amassed  a  fortune. 
Whatever  he  touched  turned  to  a  profit,  and 
even  his  most  ridiculous  blunders  were  among 
his  most  productive  speculations.  We  have  all 
heard  of,  or  been  acquainted  with,  cases  of  the 
same  sort,  only  perhaps  less  marked.  But  these 
are  mere  matters  of  accident.  They  are  no  ex- 
amples to  be  imitated.  Men  have  won  fortunes 
many  a  time  in  a  lottery ;  but  that  does  not 
show  that  Chance  is  the  best  reliance  in  accumu- 
lating property.  According  to  all  experience, 
she  cheats  her  votaries  far  oftener  than  she 
prospers  them. 

We  readily  admit  that  the  department  of 
business  is  among  the  most  practical  of  all  the 


THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  21 

departments  of  life.  Without  insight,  experi- 
ence, systematic  habits,  and  practical  energy, 
a  man  is  totally  disqualified  for  its  duties.  And 
yet  this  does  not  hinder  us  from  believing  that 
the  man  who  superadds  to  all  these  qualifica- 
tions study  and  thought,  is  better  qualified,  even 
for  the  most  practical  of  these  duties,  than  he 
who  dispenses  with  them. 

There  is  a  vast  extent  and  variety  of  T^now- 
ledge  which  may  be  made  directly  available,  first 
or  last,  in  business  operations.  Profit  and  loss 
are  often  determined  by  it.  A  man,  for  exam- 
ple, is  engaged  in  supplying  some  one  or  more 
of  the  wants  of  mankind.  He  needs  to  know 
what  those  wants  are;  in  what  circumstances 
they  arise ;  which  among  them  are  permanent, 
and  which  of  a  temporary  nature ;  in  regard  to 
the  latter,  in  what  qircumstances  they  are  likely 
to  cease,  or  what  may  turn  them  aside  into  some 
new  channel ;  how  far  he  may  or  may  not  count 
upon  the  continuance  of  their  demands  amidst 
the  fluctuations  of  the  times;  what  articles  are 
best  suited  to  the  supply  in  the  particular  locality 
which  he  has  selected  for  his  operations ;  where 
the  best  and  most  suitable  of  those  articles  can 
be  most  advantageously  secured ;  what  quantity 
is  required ;  what  the  fluctuations  are  to  which 


22  INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE   OF 

the  price  may  be  subject ;  the  physical  influ- 
ences to  which  they  are  liable,  either  for  dete- 
riorating or  improving  the  value;  how  long 
they  may  be  allowed  to  lie  on  hand  without 
danger  of  loss ;  to  what  degree  he  may  safely 
extend  his  transactions  with  the  amount  of  capi- 
tal he  is  able  to  command ;  what  are  the  ap- 
proved rules  of  intercourse  between  the  buyer 
and  the  seller,  or  the  dealer  in  wholesale  and  re- 
tail ;  the  laws  of  the  land  affecting  such  transac- 
tions as  his  own ;  and  what  changes  in  the  public 
policy,  either  of  his  own  or  other  countries,  are 
likely  to  promote  or  thwart  the  success  of  his 
undertakings.  Questions  of  this  nature  may  be 
multiplied  to  almost  any  extent,  in  connection 
with  the  simplest  operations.  And  they  run 
out,  as  may  be  seen  at  a  glance,  into  almost 
every  department  of  knowledge — to  history,  to 
geography,  to  natural  science,  to  political  econo- 
my, to  mercantile  ethics,  to  finance,  to  jurispru- 
dence, to  politics.  He  who  has  made  himself 
acquainted  with  these  matters — ^who  has  no 
occasion  to  go  and  study  them  out,  or  to  depend 
upon  the  opinion  of  others,  or  guess  the  result 
which  he  would  ascertain  from  such  vague  signs 
a^  he  may  be  able  to  discover,  or  run  his  risk 
and  take  his  luck  for  want  of  power  to  form  an 


THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  23 

intelligent  opinion — ^lias  an  advantage,  even  on 
tlie  direct  question  of  gaia  or  loss,  of  no  mean 
value  to  its  possessor. 

To  this,  perhaps  some  one  will  reply :  Oli !  I 
can  not  take  time  to  go  into  all  these  considera- 
tions ;  I  must  follow  my  practical  judgment.  I 
judge  of  the  goodness  of  an  article  by  its  look, 
its  taste,  its  smell ;  I  judge  of  the  profitableness 
of  buying  and  selling  by  inquiring  into  the  state 
and  tendencies  of  the  market ;  I  get  a  liahit  of 
judging.  Yes,  but  suppose  you  might  obtain 
the  power  to  judge  where  the  habit  and  the 
signs  would  not  serve  you.  Suppose  you  could 
anticipate  the  state  of  the  market — anticipate 
all  its  apparent  tendencies,  by  a  true  knowledge 
of  the  causes  to  which  all  its  variations  are  sub- 
ject. You  need  not  take  time  in  order  to  put 
this  knowledge  into  use.  If  it  is  really  yours, 
it  will  come  to  the  aid  of  your  practical  judg- 
ment just  as  readily  as  the  knowledge  furnished 
by  experience.  You  spend  time  now ;  you  stop, 
and  hesitate,  and  inquire,  and  after  all  get  de- 
ceived in  your  conclusions,  when,  if  you  only 
had  at  your  command  such  knowledge  as  we 
are  now  recommending,  a  simple  glance  at  the 
newspaper,  or  the  slightest  consideration  of  the 
signs  of  the  times,  might  have  enabled  you  to 


24  INTELLECTUAL    CULTURE   OF 

determine  the  question  at  once,  and  that  with 
decision  and  certainty. 

But  if  these  remarks  may  be  applied  to  the 
more  simple  and  limited  departments  of  the 
pursuits  in  question,  how  much  more  when  we 
come  to  the  more  extensive  and  complicated — 
to  commerce  in  the  larger  sense — ^to  the  opera- 
tions of  the  importer,  of  the  banker,  of  the  ma- 
nager of  large  manufacturing  interests.  When 
we  consider  how  these  operations  spread  them- 
selves over  the  world,  and  are  connected,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  with  all  its  interests,  expe- 
riences, and  events — ^that  a  revolution  in  China ; 
a  failure  of  the  opium  crop  in  India^  or  the  cot- 
ton crop  in  the  United  States ;  the  embarrass- 
ment of  financial  affairs  in  France  or  England ; 
the  curtailment  or  expansion  of  a  banking-house 
three  thousand  miles  off;  the  tone  and  temper 
of  a  speech  in  the  British  Parliament ;  a  change 
in  the  tariff;  an  alteration  in  the  terms  of  land 
sales ;  the  annexation  or  organization  of  a  new 
territory ;  the  opening  of  a  new  channel  of  com- 
munication ;  the  chartering  or  refusing  to  char- 
ter a  new  railroad,  may  make  the  difference  of 
success  or  failure,  prosperity  or  ruin — ^that  all 
these  events  are  to  be  anticipated,  provided  for, 
turned  to  account — ^the  range  of  knowledge  of 


THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  25 

wMch  men  engaged  in  such  pursuits  find  it  con- 
venient to  avail  themselves,  seems  scarcely  to 
admit  of  a  limitation. 

We  do  not  forget,  indeed,  that  even  the  most 
extensive  business  has  its  own  department  or 
speciality,  to  which  the  knowledge  necessary 
for  its  management  may  be  thought  chiefly  to 
be  limited.  But  then  no  department,  however 
narrow  it  may  seem,  is  without  its  relations. 
And  if  those  relations  are  not  understood — ^if 
the  collateral  departments  on  which  they  hinge 
are  not  taken  into  the  account,  a  man  is  in  no 
condition  to  conduct  well  even  the  most  limited 
speciality.  Every  man's  own  particular  path 
must  be  the  middle  line  of  his  knowledge ;  and 
subjects  which  lie  contiguous  to  it  form  the  fore- 
ground of  the  picture  which  he  is  to  study. 
But  then  there  is  a  background  altogether 
essential  to  the  character  and  completeness  of 
the  whole,  which  stretches  far  away  in  every 
direction,  to  unlimited  distances. 

We  have  spoken  thus  far  of  knowledge,  and 
that  with  reference  to  its  immediate  uses.  But 
this  is  but  a  partial  view  of  the  matter.  The 
man  of  business,  especially  in  its  higher  depart- 
ments, needs  to  possess  a  well-furnished,  well- 
disciplined,  and  well-cultivated  mind. 


26  INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE   OF 

The  object  of  education  is  not  by  any  means 
chiefly  tlie  use  to  wMch  tlie  acquirements  of  tlie 
student  are  to  be  directly  put.  Wliy  is  tlie 
young  aspirant  for  the  profession  of  law  kept 
in  school  and  college,  studying,  year  after  year, 
dead  languages  and  abstract  problems  in  mathe- 
matics ?  Not  because  he  is  expected  to  use  the 
one  in  his  professional  intercourse,  or  the  other 
in  calculating  professional  questions.  A  large 
part  of  what  he  learns  may  be  forgotten  pre- 
sently, as  to  any  use  which  he  has  to  make  of 
it.  It  has  done  its  work  in  the  very  getting  of 
it ;  in  the  fact  that  it  has  once  been  in  the  mind, 
and  left  its  impress  upon  other  faculties  besides 
the  memory — upon  the  judgment,  upon  the 
power  of  abstraction  and  reasoning — upon  the 
capacity  for  acquiring  other  knowledge  hereaf- 
ter to  be  learned.  And,  as  for  the  rest,  by  far 
the  larger  part  has  only  an  indirect  bearing 
upon  practical  matters.  Education  aims  chiefly 
at  the  formation  of  the  mind  itself.  It  has  its 
chief  use,  so  far  as  practical  matters  are  con- 
cerned, in  the  fact  that  a  mind  well  trained  and 
well  informed,  acts  with  the  same  power,  cer- 
tainty, and  effect,  upon  whatsoever  particular 
object  its  faculties  are  exerted. 

Now  the  pursuits  of  the  business  man,  at 


THE  MAN   OF  BUSINESS.  27 

least  in  tlie  liiglier  departments,  require  a  wide 
range  of  higli  mental  qualifications.  He  must 
have  energy,  activity,  promptness,  regularity, 
system,  punctuality,  exactness,  decision,  self- 
reliance,  penetration,  integrity,  honor.  And 
these  are  qualities,  practical  as  they  may  seem, 
which  are  greatly  promoted,  every  one  of  them, 
by  a  careful  training  of  the  mental  faculties. 
Some  of  them  are  the  very  same  which  the 
scholar  by  profession  aims  most  assiduously  to 
acquire — ^the  very  same,  indeed,  for  which  the 
course  of  studies  usually  dignified  with  the 
name  of  liberal,  were  designed. 

Besides,  the  value  of  such  studies  to  this  class 
of  men  in  enlarging  the  field  of  intellectual 
vision,  can  hardly  be  exaggerated.  The  world 
itself  is  a  very  different  thing  to  the  man  of 
learning  from  what  it  is  to  the  ignorant.  The 
relations  which  the  one  sees  in  it  are  broad 
as  the  canopy  of  heaven;  while  to  the  other, 
every  thing  is  isolated,  and  he  sees  nothing  but 
what  meets  his  outward  eye.  While  the  latter 
fixes  his  attention  on  a  single  point,  and  is  con- 
fined to  that,  the  former  radiates  his  views  all 
round  it,  and  sees  in  intimate  connection  with  it 
every  other  in  the  wide  universe  of  space.  This 
comprehensiveness  of  vision,  the  man  of  busi- 


28  INTELLECTUAL   CULTUEE   OF 

ness  needs  in  a  high  degree.  Tlie  wide  and 
complicated  relations  of  Ms  vocation,  and  tlie 
liability  of  his  conclusions  to  be  vitiated  by  a 
slight  mistake  in  any  one  of  a  thousand  parti- 
culars, indispensably  require  it.  He  must  ad- 
here diligently  to  his  own  proper  employment, 
refusing,  doggedly,  almost,  to  be  turned  aside 
from  it  to  the  right  hand  or  the  left.  But  he 
must  be  able  to  look,  as  with  the  keen  eye  of 
the  eagle,  and  the  quickness  of  the  hghtning's 
flash,  on  every  side  at  once,  and  to  the  remotest 
distances.  Staying  constantly  at  home,  occupy- 
ing, as  it  were,  year  after  year,  the  same  spot  at 
the  same  desk,  his  mind  must  have  its  couriers 
coursing  through  the  world,  and  its  posts  hast- 
ening to  and  fro  to  bring  and  bear  intelligence 
between  the  remotest  corners  of  the  domain  of 
knowledge.  ISTor  is  this  all.  He  needs  to  be 
what  has  been  called  a  many-sided  man.  With 
a  comprehensiveness  which  can  grasp  at  once 
the  sum  total  of  the  most  complicated  problems, 
he  must  be  able  to  combine  the  minutest  atten- 
tion to  even  fractional  details ;  with  a  spirit  of 
enterprise  which  springs  at  once  to  results,  and 
grasps  success,  a  patience  which  is  willing  to 
take  every  intermediate  step;  with  a  boldness 
which  trifles  can  not  intimidate,  nor  accidental 


THE    MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  29 

reverses  discourage,  a  caution  whicli  looks  to  all 
the  probabilities  and  cbances  of  tlie  case  in  hand, 
counting  carefully  the  cost. 

And  is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  a  mind,  pos- 
sessing such  capacities,  at  once  so  telescopic  and 
so  microscopic,  can  be  formed  without  careful 
training,  and  a  large  share  of  intellectual  culture  ? 
Is  it  a  fruit  that  ordinarily  grows  wild  upon  the 
stock  of  humanity  ?  We  do  not  say,  that  no 
man  is  fit  to  be  a  man  of  business,  who  has  not 
enjoyed  what  is  commonly  called  a  liberal  edu- 
cation. But  we  do  say,  that  an  education  based 
upon  the  same  principles,  having  reference 
chiefly  to  the  enlarging,  finishing,  and  disciplin- 
ing of  the  mind  itself,  would,  if  rightly  directed, 
be  of  vast  benefit  to  men  of  this  class,  with  at 
least  an  indirect  reference  to  the  particular  duties 
of  their  vocation.  Some  such  broad,  and  yet 
exact  and  systematic  culture  seems  indispensable, 
in  order  to  give  them  the  required  mental  qual- 
ities. They  must  be  trained  to  steady  thought. 
They  must  be  made  to  possess  the  full  and  free 
use  of  all  their  faculties  and  powers.  They  must . 
be  in  readiness  for  an  incalculable  variety  of 
unanticipated  exigencies.  And  for  this  end  no 
narrow  and  superficial  education  will  suffice. 
They  must  have  much  and  hard  study.   Science, 


30  INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE   OF 

literature,  and  art  must  at  least  tave  introduced 
tliem  to  their  ample  stores,  and  what  they  do  not 
know,  in  any  department  of  the  field  of  know- 
ledge, they  must  at  least  have  learned  where  to 
search  for,  and  by  what  methods  to  obtain  it. 
No  mere  routine  of  practice,  however  familiar, 
no  professional  education,  however  thorough, 
no  system  of  rules,  however  excellent,  will  give 
a  man  the  same  advantage.  He  must  know  a 
great  deal  more  than  he  wants  to  use  in  his  pro- 
fession ;  he  must  have  exercised  his  mind  on  sub- 
jects with  which  his  business  has  nothing  to  do, 
or  it  is  impossible  that  he  should  ever  possess  it. 
It  is  undoubtedly  in  accordance  with  a  very 
common  and  long  prevalent  notion,  that,  in  the 
statement  of  occupations  in  Great  Britain  in- 
serted in  our  Census  Eeportfor  1850,  "pursuits 
requiring  education "  are  made  to  include  pro- 
fessions— clerical,  legal,  medical,  and  "others 
not  specifically  named,"  but  not  "persons  en- 
gaged in  commerce."  These  are,  by  implica- 
tion, persons  whose  pursuits  do  not  require  it. 
But  is  not  this  notion  a  mere  prejudice  ?  There 
are  subordinate  parts  to  be  performed,  in  this 
as  in  every  other  department  of  action;  and 
those  who  are  disposed  to  content  themselves 
with  doing  the  mere  drudgeries  of  a  vocation, 


THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  31 

may  afford  to  dispense  witli  tlie  qualifications 
needful  for  its  Mglier  offices.  So  there  are 
places  for  men  of  the  same  stamp  in  what  are 
called  the  learned  professions.  But  we  speak 
now  of  the  qualifications  necessary  for  the  ac- 
complished man  of  business — ^for  him  who  wish- 
es to  perform  its  noblest  work,  and  is  prepared 
to  stand  upon  its  proudest  eminences.  And 
with  this  view,  we  think  there  is  scarcely  an 
occupation,  whether  of  the  scholar,  the  philoso- 
pher, or  the  man  of  professional  practice,  where 
a  wider  scope  of  knowledge  comes  directly  into 
play,  or  which  calls  for  the  exercise  of  a  wider 
range  of  intellectual  faculties. 

The  attainment  of  as  large  a  share  as  may  be 
practicable,  of  intellectual  culture,  is  a  duty 
which  every  business  man  owes  to  his  profes- 
sion. It  is  to  the  want  of  it  that  we  must 
ascribe  the  prevalent  low  views  concerning 
the  proper  aims  and  ends  of  business  pursuits. 
Many,  for  example,  have  no  conception  of  the 
profession  of  the  merchant  but  as  a  method  of 
accumulating  property  ;  nor  of  commerce,  even 
in  its  widest  scope,  but  as  a  speculation  upon 
chances.  The  philosopher  professes  to  devote 
his  powers  to  the  enlightenment  of  mankind; 
the  statesman  understands  that  the  interests  of 


32  IXTELLECTUAL   CULTUEE   OF 

a  nation  are  intrusted  to  his  charge ;  the  law- 
yer knows  that,  besides  the  obtaining  of  his 
fees,  he  has  a  solemn  responsibility  laid  npon 
him  to  see  that  the  rights  of  his  client,  who 
might  otherwise  suffer  wrong,  are  properly  vin- 
dicated; the  minister  of  the  Gospel  dares  not 
enter  upon  his  profession,  or  think  of  his  salary, 
without  professing,  not  to  his  fellow  men  only, 
but  to  his  own  conscience,  that  he  is  moved  by 
a  supreme  desire  to  serve  God,  promote  virtue 
and  piety,  and  save  the  immortal  souls  of  his 
fellow  men.  True,  they  have  all  in  view  the 
obtaining  of  a  livelihood — some  of  them  the 
amassing  of  wealth.  They  pursue  this  object 
often  with  more  than  justifiable  eagerness.  But 
they  understand  perfectly,  that,  as  a  matter  of 
morality,  it  is  to  be  kept  subordinate  to  other 
and  higher  objects  of  their  calling.  A  man's 
reputation  as  a  lawyer  does  not  depend  upon 
the  rapidity  with  which  he  gets  rich  by  his  pro- 
fession. His  getting  rich  may  or  may  not  de- 
pend upon  the  ability  with  which  he  defends 
his  clients,  but  it  is  the  latter  only,  not  the  for- 
mer, which  forms  the  basis  of  his  reputation. 
In  the  case  of  the  man  of  business,  how  fre- 
quently is  all  this  simply  reversed !  Ask  him 
what  is  the  object  of  his  business,  and  he  will 


THE    MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  83 

tell  you,  with,  an  unconscious  frankness  almost 
ludicrous,  that  it  is  to  make  money.  He  is  a 
conscientious  man,  perhaps.  He  means  to  do 
all  honestly.  He  scorns  to  take  an  undue  ad- 
vantage, or  transgress  any  of  the  rules  of  fair 
and  honorable  traffic.  But  the  getting  of  mo- 
ney is  his  grand  object.  In  proportion  as  he 
gets  money,  he  regards  his  business  as  success- 
ful, and  in  proportion  as  lie  fails  of  that,  all  Ms 
operations  seem  a  failure.  This  is  the  lust  of 
gain,  that  characteristic  vice  of  the  mercantile 
world,  stimulated  to  an  absorbing  passion,  and 
exalted  almost  to  the  rank  of  a  virtue.  The 
constant  inquiry  is  how  he  shall  increase  what 
be  denominates  his  worth.  He  struggles  to  at- 
tain now  this  mark,  and  now  that,  in  the  ascend- 
ing scale  of  accumulation,  until  the  passion,  gain- 
ing strength  by  indulgence,  eats  out  the  very 
life  of  the  soul,  and  dries  up  all  tbe  fountains  of 
noble  feeling  and  desire. 

Now  we  see  not  what  there  is  in  tbe  true  nature 
and  enda  of  the  business  vocation,  to  justify  so 
debasing  a  conception.  We  admit  that  wealth 
stands  in  closer  relation  to  this  branch  of  human 
activity  than  to  some  others,  because  capital  is 
one  of  the  main  instruments  of  commerce.  But 
aside  from  this,  we  see  not  ho\f  it  is  any  more  a 


84  INTELLECTUAL    CULTUEE    OF 

legitimate  end  here,  than  in  any  other  pursuit. 
Business  is  an  important  function  of  society. 
The  man  who  engages  in  it  accepts  a  trust.  He 
works  for  you,  for  me,  for  the  king  on  his  throne, 
for  the  poor  widow  in  her  little  apartment,  for 
the  student  in  his  study,  and  the  traveller  in  his 
distant  journeys.  His  aim  should  be,  chiefly,  to 
discharge  his  trust  well,  and  so  to  benefit  the 
world.  It  is  just  as  sordid,  just  as  reprehensible 
for  him  to  be  thinking  merely  of  his  gains,  as 
for  the  scholar,  the  teacher  of  science,  or  even  for 
the  Christian  minister.  And  yet,  such  are  the 
notions  that  prevail,  that,  while  every  other  pro- 
fession must  talk  of  their  gains  with  bated 
breath,  the  man  of  business  puts  them  forth  in 
the  front  ranks,  and  glorifies  himself  before  the 
world  on  account  of  them. 

All  this  results,  we  apprehend,  in  no  small 
degree,  from  the  low  state  of  intellectual  cul- 
ture with  which  the  class  in  question  have  in 
general  been  satisfied.  It  is  not  due  simply  to 
low  morality,  for  there  is,  we  believe,  as  high 
moral  principle  here  as  elsewhere.  But  it  is  to 
be  attributed  to  a  want  of  that  broad  and  lib- 
eral education  which,  by  embracing  at  a  small 
view  the  world  and  all  its  vast  and  complicated 
relations,  would  enable  men  to  appreciate  the 


THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  35 

true  dignity  and  liigli  public  importance  of  a 
vocation  connected,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
witli  all  the  interests  of  mankind. 

The  attainment  of  such  culture  the  business 
man  owes  likewise  to  himself  Next  to  the  satis- 
faction of  an  approving  conscience,  and  of  a 
sense  of  peace  with  God,  there  is  no  enjoyment 
of  which  the  mind  is  capable,  more  pure  and 
satisfying  than  that  which  springs  from  the  ap- 
propriate exercise  of  the  intellectual  faculties  in 
the  study  and  contemplation  of  God's  works.  As 
an  old  Roman  has  very  justly  observed,  "  These 
studies  nourish  our  youth  and  delight  our  old 
age;  they  adorn  our  prosperity,  and  are  a  re- 
fuge and  solace  in  adversity ;  they  please  us  at 
home,  and  are  no  encumbrance  abroad;  they 
abide  with  us  by  night,  accompany  us  on  our 
journeys,  and  employ  us  in  our  country  retire- 
ment. Newton's  nervous  excitement,  when  the 
proof  of  his  new  theory  of  gravitation  dawned 
upon  him  in  the  distance ;  Pythagoras'  heca- 
tomb, offered  up  as  a  thanksgiving  sacrifice  to 
his  gods,  when  the  solution  of  a  long-studied 
geometrical  problem  was  discovered;  Archi- 
medes' shout,  "  I  have  found  it !  I  have  found 
it!"  as,  forgetting  all  proprieties  of  place  and 
circumstances  in  his  eager  joy  at  a  scientific  dis- 


Sij  INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE   OF 

covery,  lie  rushed  naked  out  of  tlie  Latli — are 
illustrations  of  the  intensity  of  these  pleasures. 
The  conqueror  amidst  the  shouts  of  an  admiring 
nation  was  never  half  so  delighted  as  were  these 
conquerors  in  the  battle-fields  of  knowledge. 
And  if  this  be  so,  who  has  a  better  right  to  par- 
take of  the  gratification  ;  who  has  more  need  of 
the  refreshment  and  exhilaration  of  soul  to  be 
derived  from  at  least  sipping  at  the  pure  and 
healthful  fountains  of  literature  and  science, 
than  he  who  is  compelled  to  drudge  all  day,  in 
dust,  and  noise,  and  confusion,  among  loaded 
drays,  and  heaps  of  bales  and  boxes?  Such 
men  need  something  to  keep  their  hearts  fresh 
amidst  the  dragging,  crushing,  brain-distracting 
toils,  that  come  hourly  upon  them ;  something 
to  reopen,  from  day  to  day,  the  choked-up  foun- 
tains of  generous  sentiment ;  something  to  lift 
the  thoughts  up  out  of  the  low  and  ruinous 
circle  in  which  they  are  in  danger  of  losing  all 
proper  freedom  and  vitality. 

So  much  as  this  may  be  said,  even  on  the 
supposition  that  the  pursuits  of  business  were  to 
occupy  a  man's  chief  energies  to  the  close  of 
life.  But  the  time  is  coming,  according  to  the 
prevailing  usage,  when  the  successful  man  of 
business   will  think  it  his   privilege  to   retire 


THE   MAN    OF   BUSIKESS.  3*7 

and  turn  his  long-burdened  mind  to  something 
less  fatiguing  and  exhausting  to  his  energies. 
And  what  now  is  to  fit  him  to  enjoy  his  new 
circumstances  ?  It  is  a  lamentable  fact,  that, 
simply  from  the  want  of  a  proper  cultivation 
of  their  intellectual  faculties,  multitudes  of  our 
business  men,  when  they  come  to  retire  to  a 
life  of  leisure,  do  not  know  what  to  do,  either 
with  themselves  or  the  fortunes  they  have  ac- 
cumulated. They  rush,  perhaps,  into  all  sorts  of 
foolish  extravagances;  they  make  themselves 
and  their  families  absolutely  ridiculous  by  their 
absurd  passion  for  show  and  parade ;  they  ruin 
their  children  by  the  indulgence  of  desires  which 
should  be  sternly  repressed ;  and,  after  all,  are 
restless  and  uncomfortable  themselves,  and,  by 
their  petulence  or  purse-proud  insolence,  dis- 
turb the  peace  and  enjoyment  of  all  within  the 
circle  of  their  influence.  Having  been  mere 
business  men,  during  their  whole  active  life, 
they  now  discover  that  they  have  no  capacity  to 
be  any  thing  else.  Having  devoted  their  whole 
souls  to  the  mere  pursuit  of  wealth,  they  find 
themselves  utterly  ignorant  of  its  uses,  and  in- 
competent to  derive  from  it  the  least  real  grati- 
fication. 

The  deplorable  consequences  of  such  neglect 


38  INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE    OF 

are  often  strongly  manifested  in  their  effect  upon 
the  "business  man's  family.  If  he  is  successful, 
one  of  his  first  objects,  generally,  is  to  put  his 
children  into  a  position  of  honor  and  influence. 
Hence,  he  spares  no  pains  in  their  education. 
The  hest  schools  are  resorted  to.  Every  advan- 
tage which  money  couM  give,  is  freely  afforded 
them.  They  stand  side  by  side  with,  and  often 
surpass,  by  their  attainments,  the  children  of 
the  most  cultivated.  They  are  admitted  into, 
and  perhaps  courted  by,  the  most  cultivated 
and  intelligent  society.  And  what  is  the  re- 
sult ?  Why,  just  to  make  them  painfully 
ashamed  of  their  father's  ignorance.  His  want 
of  culture  is  a  perpetual  mortification  to  them. 
His  ridiculous  blunders,  his  coarse  and  uncouth 
manners,  his  utter  want  of  all  that  constitutes  a 
gentleman,  make  them  dread  to  meet  him  in 
the  same  company,  and  be  responsible  for  his 
glaring  deficiencies. 

The  attainments  of  which  we  speak,  are  a 
duty  which  the  man  of  business  owes  to  the 
community.  By  the  successful  pursuit  of  his 
vocation,  he  is  brought  into  new  and  more  im- 
portant relations  to  his  fellow  men.  He  has 
persons,  more  or  less  numerous,  in  his  employ, 
or  dependent  upon  his  patronage.     He  comes 


THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  39 

in  contact,  in  Ms  transactions,  witli  individuals 
of  a  great  variety  of  character  and  circum- 
stances. Men  of  influence,  men  of  education  and 
refinement,  are  likely  to  be  brought,  more  or 
less  intimately,  into  connection  with  him.  He 
will  be  called  upon  to  take  part  with  others  in 
matters  of  public  interest  requiring  knowledge, 
taste,  and  discernment. 

Many  of  our  most  successful  business  men 
have  begun  life  in  great  obscurity,  and  pushed 
their  way  up  into  significance  by  the  force  of 
their  own  shrewdness  and  energy.  In  their 
new  position  they  might  exercise  a  large  influ- 
ence, and  wield  a  commanding  power  over  so- 
ciety. But  the  difficulty  is,  that  new  position  is 
one  for  which  they  have  made  no  sort  of  pre- 
paration. Instead  of  anticipating  it,  as  they 
saw  themselves  from  year  to  year  rising  towards 
it,  and  endeavoring  to  qualify  themselves  for  its 
high  responsibilities,  they  have  suffered  their 
leisure  hours  to  run  to  waste ;  neglected  the  cul- 
tivation of  their  own  minds;  sought  for  no 
knowledge  except  what  related  directly  to  mak- 
ing profitable  bargains;  and  now  they  find 
themselves  in  the  extremely  awkward  and  em- 
barrassing posture  of  a  man  appointed  to  some 
high  office  or  trust,  for  the  discharge  of  whose 


40  INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE   OF 

duties  lie  has  neither  knowledge  nor  capacity. 
Of  course  their  only  alternative  is,  either  to  creep 
away  into  obscurity  and  forego  their  opportuni- 
ties, or,  loj  undertaking  what  they  are  in  no 
condition  to  accomplish  well,  do  an  injury  to 
society,  and  make  their  own  incompetence  the 
more  conspicuous. 

There  are  numerous  important  duties  which 
this  class  of  men  owe  to  their  country,  which 
can  only  he  performed  by  men  of  intellectual 
cultivation.  We  have  already  spoken  of  the 
ultimate  relations  which  the  pursuits  of  the  man 
of  business  bear  to  the  civilization  of  the  age. 
The  policy  of  nations  is,  and  ought  to  be,  main- 
ly conducted  with  reference  to  the  interests 
which  they  manage.  The  sinews  of  war,  and 
the  arts  and  embellishments,  are  under  their  di- 
rection. Of  course,  there  is  no  class  of  men 
better  qualified  than  they,  to  guide  the  counsels 
of  the  nation,  if  they  were  only  among  the  most 
intelligent.  It  has  often  been  remarked  that,  in 
our  national  assemblies,  we  have  far  too  great  a 
proportion  of  the  legal  profession,  and  the  busi- 
ness interests  of  the  country  are  too  feebly  repre- 
sented. And  why  is  this  the  case  ?  Simply 
because  the  lawyers,  as  a  general  thing,  are  far 
better  acquainted  with  the  condition  and  inter- 


THE   MAN    OF   BUSINESS.  41 

ests  of  the  country,  and  the  metliods  by  whicli 
its  needs  are  to  be  supplied.  Business  men  ought 
to  qualify  themselves  in  these  matters,  and  not 
leave  to  another  profession  the  entire  manage- 
ment of  affairs  in  which  their  own  pursuits  and 
interests  are  most  immediately  and  vitally 
concerned. 

They  owe  the  attainment  of  this  class  of  quah- 
fication  to  the  cause  of  humanity.  They  are 
the  men  to  whom  the  world  looks  to  endow 
literary  institutions,  to  afford  the  means  of  carry- 
ing forward  enterprises  of  charity  and  benevo- 
lence, and  to  give  the  impulse  and  the  direction  to 
wise  schemes  for  human  improvement.  Our 
wealthy  merchants  are,  and  must  be  expected 
to  be,  among  the  greatest  benefactors  of  their 
age.  What  princely  munificence  have  some  of 
them  exhibited !  And  what  an  honorable  and 
endearing  name  have  they  won  by  it!  The 
Phillipses,  the  SewelLs,  the  Lawrences,  the  Coop- 
ers, the  Astoi-s.  What  noble  institutions  have 
they  founded  !  What  an  impulse  have  they 
been  enabled  to  give  to  all  the  interests  of  learn- 
ing, morals  and  religion !  The  noble  trees 
which  they  have  planted  will  be  wa^dng  their 
refreshing  foliage  over  our  grateful  country,  and 
bearing  fruits  for  the  sustenance  of  the  nation. 


42  INTELLECTUAL   CULTUEE   OF 

and  of  tlie  world,  wlien  tlie  names  of  many  a 
successful  aspirant  for  place  and  power  shall  liave 
faded  into  irrecoverable  oblivion.  We  do  not 
wonder  that  our  ricli  merchants  wish,  to  emulate 
such  examples.  But  if  they  would  do  it  suc- 
cessfully they  must  not  allow  their  minds  to  be 
absorbed,  all  their  life  long,  in  mere  money-mak- 
ing. They  must  attend  carefully  to  their  own 
intellectual  furniture  and  training.  Ignorance, 
indeed,  can  be  munificent  enough.  But  only  in- 
telligent munificence  is  likely  to  be  of  real  bene- 
fit to  the  world. 

Such  attainments'  the  man  of  business  owes 
to  the  Church,  to  the  cause  of  true  religion,  and 
to  God.  The  Creator  has  endowed  us  all  with 
faculties  capable  of  cultivation.  And  by  so 
doing  he  has  imposed  upon  us  the  obligation  to 
pursue  that  cultivation  to  the  extent  of  our  op- 
portunities. How  much  more  useful,  in  all  re- 
spects, a  man  of  enlarged  and  well-informed 
mind,  is  capable  of  making  himself,  in  the  reli- 
gious instruction  of  the  young  ;  in  his  influence 
over  those  with  whom  he  associates,  or  comes  in 
contact;  in  organizing  and  carrying  forward 
schemes  of  benevolence;  in  guiding  and  sus- 
taining all  the  enterprises  and  activities  of  the 
Church — compared  with  one  who  is  ignorant  and 


THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  43 

narrow  minded,  is  too  obvious  to  need  a  moment's 
discussion.  Hence  tlie  culture  in  question  as- 
sumes the  character  of  a  higli  Christian  duty, 
and  can  not  be  neglected  without  bringing 
down  the  censure  which  our  Lord  pronounced 
upon  the  slothful  servant,  "Wherefore  then 
gavest  not  thou  my  money  into  the  bank,  and 
then  at  my  coming,  I  should  have  received  mine 
own  with  usury." 

We  have  room  only  to  offer,  in  conclusion, 
a  few  brief  suggestions  as  to  the  method  and 
practicability  of  attaining  to  this  object. 

It  is  very  desirable  that  a  broad  and  solid 
foundation  should  be  laid  for  it  by  a  good  early 
education.  Our  youth  who  are  looking  forward 
to  a  life  of  business,  should  be  made  to  under- 
stand that  no  narrow  and  superficial  school 
education,  will  fit  them  to  act  well  their  part,  or 
aspire  to  eminence  in  their  chosen  employment. 
We  do  not  say  that  a  college  education  is  ne- 
cessary for  all.  We  do  not  say  it  is  the  best 
which  could  be  devised  for  the  attainment  of  the 
desired  object.  But  we  say  unqualifiedly,  as 
things  now  are,  those  who  are  in  circumstances 
to  avail  themselves  of  such  an  education,  should 
by  no  means  neglect  it ;  and  those  who  are  not, 
should  secure  the  best  substitute  which  their 


44  INTELLECTUAL   CULTUEE   OF 

opportunities  will  allow.  Go  to  school;  put 
yourself  under  thorougli  mental  discipline ;  learn 
to  think,  to  study,  to  apply  yourself.  It  is  a 
capital  error  of  large  numl^ers  of  our  young 
men,  that  they  are  in  so  much  haste  to  get  out 
of  school  and  into  the  counting-house.  It  is  a 
capital  error,  that  they  value  so  little  the  ad- 
vantages of  their  school  training  while  they  are 
under  it.  A  gentleman,  whom  we  knew,  took 
his  son  from  school  early,  and  transferred  him 
to  a  clerk's  desk.  On  being  asked  why  he  did 
so  ;  if  he  thought  his  son  had  acquired  learning 
enough,  he  replied  dryly :  "  Oh !  no,  but  Henry 
has  got  as  much  learning  as  will  stick."  Such 
is  the  case  with  many.  The  education  which  is 
given  them  at  school,  is  of  so  little  value  in  their 
esteem,  that  it  will  not  stick.  They  must  learn 
to  appreciate  it.  It  is  fundamental  to  all  subse- 
quent attainments.  Here  it  is  that  the  strong, 
deep,  broad  foundation  is  to  be  laid,  on  which 
to  build  afterwards  by  study,  reading,  observa- 
tion, and  reflection. 

Much  of  the  mental  culture  of  the  business 
man,  is  to  be  acquired  practically.  If  he  has 
right  mental  habits,  he  will  find  food  for  thought, 
and  lessons  for  his  instruction,  in  all*  the  daily 
occurrences  of  active  life.     Man  with  all  his 


^- 


THE   MAN    OF    BUSINESS.  45 

passions  and  pursuits,  events  with  all  their  chan- 
ges, and  nature  with  its  rich  variety  of  beauti- 
ful, sublime,  mysterious,  and  glorious  objects — 
its  operations  and  its  laws — are  ever  his  open 
book.  "With  only  the  capacity  to  read  such  les- 
sons, he  might  find  everywhere,  "  tongues  in 
the  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks,  sermons 
in  stones,  and  good  in  every  thing."  But  the 
first  requisite  is  to  acquire  that  capacity.  He 
must  have  learned  to  observe,  to  reflect,  to  gen- 
eralize, to  reason.  The  uninstructed  rustic  hears 
no  voice  when  the  trees  whisper,  and  reads  no 
meaning  syllables  when  the  brooks  reflect  to  his 
eye  the  flowers  that  grow  upon  their  margins, 
or  the  sun  glances  his  resplendent  beams  upon 
their  ripply  surfaces.  So  does  the  illiterate 
young  clerk,  or  the  ignorant  old  trader  see,  in 
all  the  instructive  events  that  pass  in  living 
panoramas  before  his  eyes  and  chronicle  them- 
selves in  his  ledger  and  his  correspondence,  only 
the  opportunity  of  making  good  bargains,  or 
the  disappointment  of  his  expectations  of  profit. 
It  needs  an  eye  trained  to  penetrate  beyond  the 
cold  hard  surface  of  mere  gain  and  loss,  debt 
and  credit,  in  order  to  obtain  instruction  from 
these  sources. 

It  must  be  owned  that  the  ordinary  duties  of 


46     .  INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE   OF 

II  business  life  are  not  favorable  to  a  free  and 
well-proportioned  mental  cultivation.  So  little 
leisure  is  enjoyed  ordinarily ;  so  close  and  con- 
stant is  tlie  attention  necessary  to  keep  all  things 
right,  in  an  extensive  business  establisliment ; 
so  heavy  is  the  weight  of  care  that  lies  upon 
the  mind ;  so  many  distracting  interests  clamor 
all  day  long  for  its  attention,  that  there  is  little 
room  left  for  reflection,  and  still  less  for  reading 
and  study.  The  man  who  purposes  to  enjoy 
this  privilege  has  got  to  contend  for  it.  He  has 
got  to  overcome  serious  obstacles.  He  has  got 
to  exercise  great  resolution  and  perseverance. 
And  this  will  only  be  where  there  is  a  high 
sense  of  the  value  of  the  attainment,  and  a  keen 
relish  for  the  pursuit. 

In  order  to  this  end,  the  method  to  be  pur- 
sued must  be  arranged  as  systematically  as  pos- 
sible. One  hour  in  a  day,  set  sacredly  apart 
for  study,  will  accomplish  wonders,  as  the 
months  and  years  roll  along.  Let  it  be  so  set 
apart,  remembered,  and  kept  sacred,  as  a  kind 
of  Sabbath  of  the  intellectual  man.  Who  can 
not  at  least  do  so  much,  even  in  the  busiest 
period  of  his  life  ?  Let  the  employments  of 
that  hour  be  regulated  by  a  well-digested  and 
fixed  plan,  not  to  be  swerved  from.    This  year 


THE   MAN   OV   BUSINESS.  47 

and  next,  a  course  of  Hstory  is  to  be  attended 
to.  Tlie  following  year,  tlie  subject  of  political 
economy,  or  natural  science,  or  Christian  ethics, 
is  to  employ  the  attention.  The  books  are  care- 
fully selected.  The  thoughts  and  arguments 
which  they  contain  are  thoroughly  mastered  in 
succession.  Whatever  is  learned,  is  learned,  and 
once  for  all.  Let  the  plan  embrace  such  variety 
as  may  only  exercise,  and  not  weary  the  facul- 
ties. Pursue  it  steadily,  month  after  month, 
with  quiet  perseverance,  making  the  knowledge 
you  acquire  the  food  for  thought  whenever  your 
mind  is  not  otherwise  occupied,  and  the  theme 
of  conversation  when  you  meet  with  those  capa- 
l^le  of  appreciating  it  or  likely  to  advance  your 
attainments ;  and,  though  it  may  seem  that  you 
gain  little  to-day  or  to-morrow,  the  result  at  the 
year's  end  will  not  fail  to  reward  your  persever- 
ance. 

In  this  pursuit  some  things  are  to  be  guarded 
against.  Leisure  hours  are  very  easily  frittered 
away  in  reading  to  no  profit.  Let  the  newsj)a- 
pers  occupy  only  their  allotted  share  of  atten- 
tion. They  are  valuable  helpers.  But  they  are 
thieves  of  time  too.  Let  the  trash  stories  witli 
which  the  market  is  flooded  be  abjured  steadily. 
Let  some  ea^y,  entertaining,  and  yet  well-ap- 


48  INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE   OF 

proved  book,  tlie  product  of  some  really  gifted 
and  sound  mind,  lie  always  on  your  table,  witli 
your  place  in  it  accurately  marked,  not  in  the 
book  itself  but  in  your  own  mind,  to  occupy 
you  in  those  loose  moments  which  even  the 
busiest  have  occasionally  at  their  command. 

One  suggestion  we  would  here  make  with  the 
greatest  earnestness.  It  is  true,  undoubtedly, 
that  high  moral  and  religious  culture  are  not 
absolutely  indispensable  to  intellectual  attain- 
ments. But  it  is  equally  true,  that  there  are 
close  relations  between  them.  There  is  a  perti- 
nent remark  of  one  of  the  profoundest  thinkers 
of  the  last  generation,  which  both  the  man  of 
business  and  the  scholar  by  profession  would  do 
well  to  ponder :  "  An  hour  of  solitude  passed 
in  sincere  and  earnest  prayer,  or  the  conflict 
with  and  conquest  over  a  single  passion  or  a 
subtle  bosom-sin,  will  teach  us  more  of  thought, 
will  more  effectually  awaken  the  faculty  and 
form  the  habit  of  reflection,  than  a  year's  study 
in  the  schools  without  them."  And  again  we 
have  the  assertion  from  the  same  high  author- 
ity :  "  Never  yet  did  there  exist  a  full  faith  in 
the  divine  Word  (by  whom  light  as  well  as  im- 
mortality was  brought  into  the  world)  whicli 
did  not  expand  the  intellect  while  it  purified 


THE   MA^    OF    BUSINESS.  49 

the  heart — wliicli  did  not  multiply  tlie  aims  and 
objects  of  tlie  understanding  while  it  fixed  and 
simplified  those  of  the  desires  and  passions." 
The  Sabbath  ought,  especially,  to  be  devoted  to 
such  studies  and  occupations  as  will  advance  both 
these  objects  in  mutual  harmony.  The  conse- 
cration of  one  undivided  day  in  every  seven,  to 
the  service  of  religion,  is  the  best  intellectual 
boon  ever  offered  to  the  business,  as  well  as  to 
the  laboring  community.  Let  the  pulpit  on 
whose  ministrations  you  attend,  be  chosen  with 
reference  to  its  adaptation  to  feed  and  stimulate 
at  once  your  intellect  and  your  heart.  Let  its 
instructions  and  persuasions  be  listened  to,  not 
with  mental  passivity,  or  drowsy  or  wandering 
attention,  but  so  as  to  occupy  your  best  mental 
strength  upon  the  thoughts  presented  from  it. 
Reproduce  at  least  a  portion  of  your  know- 
ledge, by  that  best  of  all  methods  of  fixing  it 
deeply  and  indelibly  in  the  mind,  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  young.  The  Sabbath-school  and  the 
Bible-class  open  one  of  the  best  facilities  for 
intellectual  improvement,  which  the  man  of  busi- 
ness could  desire.  Let  all  his  religious  reading 
(and  to  this  class  of  books  he  ought  on  that 
day  sacredly  to  confine  himself)  be  chosen  with 
reference  to  its  intellectual  as  well  as  religious 


50  mi'ELLECTTTAL    CULTURE   OF 

merit,  its  fitness  to  inform  and  expand  tlie  mind, 
as  well  as  to  impress  the  heart.  And  above  all, 
let  tlie  glorious  old  Bible,  that  book  of  books — 
the  book  whose  language  is  the  true  "  well  of 
English  undefiled,"  whose  style,  in  all  the  vari- 
eties of  composition  contained  in  it,  is  unsur- 
passed and  unrivalled,  whose  conceptions  are 
the  most  grand  and  soul-stirring,  and  whose 
sentiments  the  most  pure  and  lofty— the  book 
of  God,  redolent  with  the  fragrance  of  heaven 
on  every  page,  be  made  the  nucleus  of  all  his 
reading,  and  the  subject  of  profoundest  study, 
and  most  inward  and  prayerful  reflection. 

It  is  among  the  prophecies  of  inspiration  con- 
cerning the  latter  day — ^the  day  of  glory,  which 
the  Church  has  ever  looked  forward  to  with 
longing  eyes — ^that  "  many  shall  run  to  and  fro, 
and  knowledge  shall  increase."  The  subject- 
matter  of  all  true  knowledge,  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind,  is  God,  and  his  works  and  ways. 
Rightly  pursued  and  apprehended,  knowledge 
is  religion,  is  worship,  is  the  communion  of  the 
soul  with  its  Maker.  Our  Saviour  has  assured 
us,  it  is  our  highest  dignity  and  happiness.  For 
"  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know  thee, 
the  only  true  God."  So  is  the  cultivation  of  the 
faculties  to  be  invested  with  the  same  high  dig- 


THE   MAN   OF   BUSINESS.  51 

nity.  "  Man's  cliief  end,"  declares  a  mucli  ven- 
erated autliority,  "is  to  glorify  God,  and  enjoy 
him  for  ever."  And  how  shall  we  better  glo- 
rify him ;  how  shall  we  more  enhance  our  capa- 
city to  enjoy  him,  than  "by  cultivating  and  im- 
proving, to  the  extent  of  our  ability,  those  higli 
capacities  of  our  manhood,  in  which  our  privi- 
lege is  to  resemble  our  Creator  ?  In  the  words  of 
that  profound  and  rich  thinker  from  whose  ob- 
servations we  have  already  made  two  extracts, 
"  Let  it  not  be  forgotten,  that  the  powers  of  the 
understanding  and  the  intellectual  graces  are 
the  precious  gifts  of  God;  and  that  every 
Christian,  according  to  the  opportunities  vouch- 
safed to  him,  is  bound  to  cultivate  the  one  and 
to  acquire  the  other;  indeed  he  is  scarcely  d 
Christian  who  wilfully  neglects  to  do  so.  What 
says  the  Apostle  ?  '  Add  to  your  faith  know- 
ledge.'" 


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